In love or war
by Windcall
Summary: AU - Sylvia Shaw is a young 3d artist woman running away from a troubled past. Her running crosses the path of a strange stray dog who embark her in a magical and dangerous mission to save lives by combining computer magic with wizardry! Ch.15 is up!
1. The stray

In love and war… by Windcall 

Disclaimer : this story is based on the wonderful stories of J.K. Rowling. I do not own any material in it nor do I make any money with it.

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1– The stray

The sun was slowly and grandly appearing behind the peaks of the Estern Fells of the Cumbrian Mountains, turning in glorious orange and yellow the wild and beautiful landscape around the small wooden cabin. The birds in the forest were wildly singing their welcome to the new day before getting ready for the chores of hunting food for their growing chicks. The first rays of sunshine were slowly creeping on the landscape, until they touched the slim figure standing on the porch of the cabin, her hands warmed by a cup of coffee and a blanket thrown around her shoulders to ward off the chill. Sylvia Shaw took a long breath before releasing it with a sigh of contentment. What a wonderful place this was. So full of peace and the curious mix of both violence and serenity that one can only find in an oasis of forgotten nature paradise. Like here. Through the branches in front of her, she could see patches of water from the lake at the foot of the mountain near which she had taken residence…for a while at least. 

"_For a long while, I hope_." She prayed silently while taking a sip of hot coffee. She sighed again, this time in hopelessness, before turning toward the door. "_Time to start working_." She took a step, before a flash of dark movement caught the corner of her eyes. She froze, a spear of white fear shooting through her. _"Come on, don't be such a dork. Open your eyes and LOOK_." She struggled with the fear that held her up in place, the very worst thing she could do if HE ever came looking for her here. Disgusted at her own instinct, dark panic and a very unsettled stomach were fighting for supremacy inside of her until she forced down the turmoil with sheer will and willed herself to turn her head and look in the direction of the movement.

"_A dog. It was only a stray dog._" Relief so strong filled her that it was actually too much for her poor stomach. She ran to the banister and threw up on the grass, emptying it of the morning breakfast. 

Slumping down on the hard wood of the porch, she adjusted the blanket around herself, seeking the warmth to comfort her. Tears of defeat were in her eyes ready to drop at the first sign of weakness on her part. But she kept them from falling by repeating to herself over and over, "_I'm NOT going to cry, there is NO reason to. I am safe. I'm strong. I can do this. Relax. Breathe…_" She refused to think of anything else for now. If she went down on self-pity and self-hatred now, it would take her weeks to regain the small ground she had won for herself since she had fled here.

To keep her mind occupied while she was struggling and shaking with shock, she took a slow survey of the cause of her anxiety crisis. The dog was still there, low on his stomach, observing her with curiously intelligent eyes across the small clearing surrounding the cabin. He was of a very dark color, maybe even black, but Sylvia could not tell for all the filth and the dust covering it. He, "_maybe it's a she_." she thought absent-mindedly, looked underfed and almost skinny. So, a very hungry black stray dog was looking at her, rooted in place with no indication that it might move anytime soon. "_Well, I can't very much stay here for the rest of the day. If it won't move, I will. But slowly, Sylvia, it's hungry, it might attack you_." She started to stand up, moving slowly, concentrating on the dog to keep her emotions from overwhelming her again. She backed unto the cabin door, opened it calmly and went inside, her eyes still fixated on the dog. He looked back at her the whole time, following every single one of her movement until the door was closed.

Once inside, Sylvia put her forehead on the door, still trying to get her emotion under enough control so that she could at least function throughout her day. That something as simple as a stray dog could turn her into a simpleton in a split second was a sign that her last encounter with HIM had been more troubling than she had thought. She had worked so hard to attain her independence, had tried so forcibly to forget and had lost so much just to have the right to live alone, in peace. Tears were threatening again. "NO. I'm done crying. Get a grip on yourself, woman!" She said aloud to herself like a promise that she was not sure she could keep.

Straightening her shoulders, she raised her head and walked to the kitchen putting a spring on her footstep, trying to force her mood to change. She washed her face, which did made her feel better. Turning while she was toweling her face, she saw through the window that the dog was still there, lying on the grass as if it had no more energy left to move. It looked so frail and miserable that she could hardly believe that she had been scared out of her mind by such a pitiful creature. Moved by the thought that she could feel pity for someone or something else than herself, she decided to confront the morning catastrophe and try turning it into something positive. Reassured by the decision, her stomach finally settled enough to let her prepare a snack from yesterday leftover in a big bowl for the skinny excuse of a canine lying outside. 

As she opened the door, the dog's head snapped straight up and its eyes pierced her, making all thought of frailty and pity to wisp out of her mind like smoke in the wind. Frozen in place, she almost started to panic again, but the mistrust, the hunger and the calculation in the stray's eyes held her still. Suddenly, anger came to her rescue. After all, it was just a filthy beggar of a dog, _how dare_ it look at her that way, when it was living out of scavenging, deceiving and stealing. Trusting her chin forward, she abruptly walked down the few steps in front of the cabin, put the food down and glowered at the dog with her fists on her hip. "You better eat all of it because you're not going to get any more out of me, not with the manners you have anyway." As she swirled around to go back up the stairs, she did not see the eyes of the dog going big and round with surprise then small with amusement. When she looked back before going inside, she only saw a black stray dog obediently stuffing itself.

Back inside, she felt both elated and embarrassed by her outburst. Wasn't it silly to take her fear and her frustration out on a dog! But however silly, it made her feel like she had won a battle in this war she was waging against herself, she felt much calmer and in control now, almost happy. "_Wow!_" She thought, amazed, "_Poor dog though. If I ever see it again, I'll make it up to it_." Giggling at the thought of making amend to a dog, she made her way back to the kitchen table and the laptop computer waiting there for her.

* *

The day went by much faster than she had anticipated, concentrated as she was on modeling the half-tiger, half-eagle monster that her client needed for an ad in a sci-fi magazine. She had been so lucky that her best friend Elizabeth's brother in-law was in the multimedia business and had accepted to get her contracts. In fact, it was all Max's idea. A little more than two years ago, she had ended up at her friend's house in the middle of the night, scared to death and bleeding from her wounds. Max Carrington and his wife, Elizabeth's sister, were there visiting. Once she had told them her story, they immediately decided to help her. They smuggled her out of London and got her a place in a private clinic in Brampton. Supported her with love and encouragement, they also lent her some money for a six-month intensive course in 3D digital arts to put some new polish on her five year old degree in graphic design.

Now, she worked for Max who sends her jobs that she could send back through a high bandwidth internet connection. She could work anywhere and move in a split second without losing her job. It was the perfect solution to all of her problems. Only Max knew where she was and as long as she kept out of large dwellings, she should be all right…

Sylvia groaned when she noticed that her wandering mind had cost her to blotch a good part of the skin near the third vertebra of her monster. Now the tiger part in that area looked like acid had been poured on and was melting it. Sylvia stretched her arms in the air, yawning. She knew from past experiences that there was no point in trying to correct the situation now when she was tired and losing her concentration. Looking at her watch, she decided to go for a swim in the lake, then see to diner and continue working in the evening. Saving her file, she felt pretty happy on how the creature was starting to pulse with a life of its own. This was one of her best job yet, Max and the client, Mr. Trummel, were going to be pleased. This was what she liked best about her new career, she could do very different kind of stuff, like that teddy family she had done for a web oriented toy store. One of her first few contracts, that was, very colorful and full of warmth.

Smiling at the souvenir, she took a towel, and headed for the lake, not bothering to snatch her swimsuit. As she walked down the path, she reminded herself not to forget to take back inside the now empty bowl the stray had left, wondering if she would ever see it again. Whistling softly, she never noticed, the two glowing eyes following her from the bushes in the darkness of the forest floor. 


	2. Into town

Disclaimer: This story is based on the wonderful stories and characters owned by J.K. Rowling. I certainly do not make any money with it, just having fun…

nycgrl : Thank you sooooo much for my first review, as soon as I read it, I complied with you're request and attacked my computer with renewed enthusiasm. As you can see I took your demand quite seriously!!

2- Into town

Sylvia woke up the next morning with a sinking feeling in her battered stomach, knowing that there was no point in delaying the inevitable. She put her head under the pillow, growling with lack of enthusiasm at the idea. She would have to go to town today. There it was. No going around it. There were just too many things she needed to buy and she could not take the risk to have the grocery delivered here. She must make sure that nobody knows where she lives. So, she had to go herself, but that too was dangerous. People in small villages are curious about strangers and they talk easily and often, building simple straight stories into very creative rumors. She knew that simple fact, and the only way to counteract it was to be very open, very outspoken and very out of the ordinary. She had to dismiss any idea of mysteries or strangeness from her past in their mind. Following that idea, she had created a persona so different from herself than nobody in their right mind would associate that wild women with the shy, unobtrusive and traumatized Sylvia Shaw girl that very few people knew. And of course she was NOT using her real name. 

Getting into the wild Rowena McDougall persona usually takes her a while though…she made a face under the pillow. "_Well, ….I guess I'd better get cracking_" she thought throwing her quilt and pillow away and getting up to the sound of the hundreds of birds singing to the morning light in the forest just behind her window. 

Walking into the kitchen, she started to get into character… "_Rowena McDougall is older than me, around 28…she walks proudly with energetic long stride and remember, she keep fussing with her hair_. Sylvia straightened her shoulders, changing her mind set while going through the motion of preparing breakfast. Her step grew more confident and her gestures became larger. Sitting down at the table with her omelette dish complete with toast, she went on with the transformation. "_Right, Rowena thinks of herself as the ultimate women, she is divorced with no children attached, she is moderately rich because of her divorce and is an eccentric, she is a screenwriter in search of inspiration. She is also not very bright and is very transparent about what she thinks or how she feels. She is the kind of person that nobody would suspect to have a dark past. She came down here to find her muse and to commune with nature because she's currently under a spell of New Age craziness. "_

Sylvia felt her lips curve into a wry smile at the thought. She had made an extensive research into New Age literature in order to pull off the credibility of her character and could NOT believed the weird stuff some of these authors invented in order to sell their books. To think that there are actually real people buying this stuff made her feel both amused and sad that a life could be so empty that the only way to become interesting was to cry that you have been abducted by aliens. She knew that she was a long shot from being at the high point of her life but still, she fervently hope that she would never go THAT far down. She also remembered reading about the Wiccan religion and thinking that the history and philosophy were pretty interesting, very different from her strict Protestant upbringing, quite open-minded. Well, at least it was interesting until she got to the spell and magic part. She remembered closing the book in disgust, wondering if there was any one religion or philosophy on this planet that did not try to sell dreams and easy solutions to people drowning in the futility and absurdity of their own life. Sylvia didn't believed in god-sent miracles anymore. She was only saved by her own actions and decisions and not because someone took her by the hand to get her out of her predicament. If she had waited for something to happen, for somebody to come and save her, she would be dead by now. Spells, magic and miracles are for those too weak to take responsibility for their own lives.

Shaking herself out of her reverie, Sylvia discovered that her plate was empty and her coffee disgustedly cold. Putting both in the sink in passing, she went back to her room to finish her transformation into the one and only Mrs. Rowena McDougall. She opened the second wardrobe and gazed at the frilly dresses and tight jeans she had bought that long gone sunny afternoon with a giggling Melanie and her sister Elizabeth. Both of them had helped her create Rowena and other characters as well out of the blue. They had passed a wonderful time trying extravagant clothes and making pin-up poses in front of the convenient store mirror. Sylvia felt her chest tightens at the memory, she missed them both so much. They had been her only true friends, always trying to make her laugh, making sure to keep her away from a too deep depression that could end up in tragedy. Both of them had no idea where she was, she had to move twice since she had last seen them. 

After discarding several possibilities, she decided on a pair of jeans and a very pink tank top that was so unlike her that her mother would have had the shock of her life if she could have seen her. The thought almost made her drop to the floor as she struggled into her jeans. Her parents were very clear about what they considered proper and bright color and revealing pants were definitely not it. 

The next step was to put on the beautiful wig she had found a few months ago in Lancaster while on her way here. It was a wonderful dark red and made of real long straight hair. Stuck with her boring natural brown, Sylvia had always been envious of women blessed with long vibrant shimmering red hair. When she had seen the wig, there had been no power on earth, which could have stopped her from buying it. She carefully tucked her short curls under the wig then brushed it and finally put the finishing touch with a little make up on her eyes and lips. 

Taking a step back, Sylvia examined herself critically in the full-length mirror near the wardrobe. Her long legs were encased in the jeans and left very little to the imagination, her stomach was lean and showed some muscle. She had been on the chubby size before that stay in the clinic. But not anymore, she was very careful about that. The clinic had not only helped her to heal her physical and emotional wounds but also to help change her physical appearance. A controlled diet and an exercise program had changed her quite a bit, and reconstruction surgery on her jaw and nose, which had both been in a pretty bad condition, had transformed her face. Furthermore, her eyebrows had been cleaned in a thin round line and colored contact lenses could change her brown eyes to whatever color she chose from black to pearly gray. For the duration of her stay here, they were bright green, of course, to match her fiery hair. She even went so far as to have her navel pierced with a big purple stone, a stone that was Rowena supposed birth stone, only because it was in character. The stone glittered in the sun coming from the window while she thought "_Not bad. I better add the usual trinkets Rowena wears though._ " She went back to the wardrobe to take out a little box from which she took several long necklaces, each with a different symbol pendant showing Rowena esoteric interest. She also took two large golden bracelets, one for her left upper arm and one for her right wrist, and finally, a pair of owls ears pendant. 

She stayed there a bit, looking at herself, making minute corrections, her head high, her movements large and her whole face open and glowing. She was ready. No signs of Sylvia could be seen in the woman who now sat on the bed to put on her sandals or in the way she tossed her head to send her long hair flying on her back with an ease born of habit. But inside, Sylvia felt the same as usual during her time in disguise: nervous. She didn't especially like Rowena; she was too weird, too loud and too full of herself. But the worse was that Sylvia always felt so exposed in her costume, not only because it did show quite a bit of skin, but also for the outspoken ways of her alter ego. 

Sylvia every instinct screamed at her to stay low, to blend in the background, to attract as little attention to herself as possible. She had done it that way before, posing as an unattractive, single, part-time secretary in a big society, or a puritan woman working in a mission. Both times, HE had tracked her down, she had received just enough advanced warning in order to get out. The first time, in London, had been the worst; she barely managed to escape. Max and her had at the time concluded that the best way to hide was just under HIS nose though HE would never thought her capable of that much nerve. It almost worked, but she got careless after a few months and called her mother whom she missed terribly. HE traced the call, and got to her apartment in half an hour. Fortunately, she recognized his footstep on the stairs that he was pounding in his anger, she grabbed her little emergency suitcase, and fled through the emergency exit staircase just beside the kitchen window. 

Sylvia/Rowena shuddered at the memory while going through the cabin for the door. Once outside, she locked the cabin door and proceeded to the garage and her car on the left. On the small, bumpy road, she wondered if she should go to the other little village on the right side of the fork. She knew there was a village there, for once in a while, she would hear a train going in that direction and its shrill whistle when it stop. She also knew there was some old castle ruin on the hill on the other side of the lake, it was on the map of the region but there was no tourists' visit since it was both too dangerous and too small for it. Still, she would like to take a look at it one of these days, it might give her ideas if she ever received a command for a digital castle. But not today she decided. One village gossiping wildly about Rowena was quite enough, and what's more, she was definitively not in the mood to tell her made up story again. Having made up her mind, she took the left fork when she arrived at the branching and never saw the small sign half hidden in the bushes on the other road, saying Hogsmeade, Hogwarts: 20 miles. 

* *

The village, called Whytburn, was nothing more than two streets with a couple of hundred houses huddled near them. The target of Sylvia /Rowena today was to make a round trip of the general store. She parked near the entrance, locked the door and turned to enter the store when she saw the stray dog that had come to visit her the morning before. It was jauntily walking down the walkway directly across her. Sensing her eyes, it turned its head to look at her and stopped abruptly. Sylvia could have sworn that she saw something very close to astonishment cross the dog's eyes, but of course it was not possible. Sylvia pushed the strange idea aside, turning again to go inside_. "I'm probably more nervous than I thought_" she murmured to herself. Nervous was good, it made Rowena's voice even louder than usual and her gestures even more grand. But too much was bad…she would have to be careful.

"Mrs. McDouglas!!! What a pleasant surprise!" said the owner's wife, Mrs Langley, behind her counter.

"It's McDougall, but never mind that, I'm in a hurry Mrs. Langley, my horoscope for the day is absolutely horrible. So, you see, I can't stay long. " Rowena answered with a contralto voice that was supposed to be seductive.

" Why, yes of course. What can I do for you today, then?" asked Mrs. Langley with an amused and slightly superior smile.

"This is what I need." said Rowena, putting a piece of paper on the counter, but before Mrs. Langley could grab it, she exclaimed "Wait!" and wrote down two other words on her list. The woman took it and gave it a quick look then, suddenly, looked closer. She raised her eyes to Rowena. "Are you sure about those two last items?"

" But of course Mrs. Langley. Is there a problem?" asked Rowena, smiling and fussing her hair. 

"No, but I was not aware that you had a dog. Is it a new acquisition?" Mrs. Langley's eyes were glowing with the prospect of telling a new story to her friends about the infamous red hair city girl.

"Not really. I just thought that I could make friend with the poor dark stray dog that roams the forest. The goddess asks us to be friendly with all of earth creatures you know. Doing so can enable you to learn the language of the beasts and help you acquire a lot of power."

"Really! Isn't that interesting." Answered the lady with a barely concealed smile. "I'll have everything ready for you in about an hour." 

Rowena nodded then went out to go buy herself a good lunch in the small restaurant across the street. Things were looking good so far, there has been no other customer in the store and seemingly also very few clients in the restaurant. If her luck hold, she would be out of here in an hour without too much fuss. Smiling and wiggling her hips, she went inside shouting a huge "Hello everyone!"


	3. The taming

DISCLAIMER: This story is based on materials owned by the great J.K. Rowling. I do not make any money with it or anything…

AUTHOR'S NOTE: I would like to dedicate this humble story to the heroes of the Columbia crew. All my heart and my prayers are with the NASA people and the families of these great men and women who have given their lives for knowledge, science and peace's sake. You will never be forgotten.

padfoot1979: Thanks for your review, it's great to know what people like. 

nycgrl: Thanks for your good words, it's fantastic to see people coming back to read more!

CHAPTER 3: The taming

When Sylvia came back from town in early afternoon, exhausted as usual after such an outing, she went straight to her room to get rid of Rowena. She went back to her loose shirt, comfortable leggings and short brown curls with a sigh of relief. Rowena could be fun to play, but only for so long, her loud ways added with the strain of playing a role and being scared all the time was just too draining to make it last longer than absolutely necessary. She felt a headache starting to pound behind her left eye and knew she'd better take two aspirins and lie still for a while before it got into a full fledged migraine.

She went into the kitchen to fetch the bottle and once there realized she better put away the grocery before something started to go bad. Emptying the bags, she found the dog food and large bone she had decided to buy at the last minute_. "Now, why did I do that?!_" she wondered. She had done it impulsively, in an after thought like something she had forgotten suddenly coming back to consciousness. Sylvia frown: that was not like her. Not at all. She was the prudent and even-tempered type. She never did anything without thinking it through. It was more like something Rowena would do. Well, maybe she had been more into character than she thought and had let Rowena act it out. Her frown deepened, letting Rowena spontaneous ways creep out was dangerous. In her circumstances, she needed cold logic and good planning; Sylvia had too many problems without having to deal with the consequences of her alter ego's volatile nature. She started to feel giddy. God! She was thinking of Rowena like a real person, this was a dangerous path to walk. She refused to look more closely at the revelation. 

"One problem at a time," she murmured under her breath, wincing at the pain growing stronger in her head. Since she now had the dog stuff, whether it had been her idea or not, she might as well use it. After all, she had decided to make it up to that black brute for yelling at it, as crazy as it was. She took the bowl she had used for the stray the day before and pour Purina dog food into it, before going out outside and putting it on the grass near the three steps leading to the porch. Then, disgusted at herself for letting an impulse control her decisions, she went to bed for a short nap. Maybe the dog would never come back…

* * *

It came back. During the following weeks, while the leaves grew and the weather changed from spring to summer, the black dog came and went at leisure, sometimes disappearing for days at a time and sometimes seeming to always be around, sleeping under the porch. Sylvia was not sure what to make of its behavior, she never had a dog and did not know if this was normal or not. She also was of two minds about the dog's presence. The way it was forever following her with its eyes, sharply examining every of her movement with a look of what she could only call speculation was making her very nervous. This dog seemed more, well, intelligent than most. Sylvia felt stupid to apply human definitions on the stray but she could not find any other words appropriate to describe the situation. 

This mystery, as frustrating as it was, had its good sides; it took her mind away from her problems and gave her something to do in her spare time, someone to take care of and keep her from getting depressed. She got used to having it around, and after a while, she actually slept better at night when it was laying outside her cabin. 

On the other hand, she had absolutely no idea what the dog thought of her. It never came to her and seemed weary of everything. She was not even able to check its sex for it would never let her come close, especially while it eats. 

With constant food and a safe place to sleep, the dog also became less skinny and its fur started to have a healthy sheen. So the uneasy friendship went on, each grudgingly accepting the other, while making sure not to start liking the other too much. 

"You know," Sylvia began dryly, one sunny early June afternoon, eyeing the dog eating from its bowl on the grass with its ears up and an eye on her, "you really need a good bath. The wind just changed and I received a horrible draft of your stinky self." At that, the dog stopped eating and looked up at her, sitting, ankle propped on the banister and laptop on her knees, surprise plain on its eyes. It was the first time she had talked to it since that spring day when she had yelled at it. 

The dog kept looking at her, its head leaning to one side as if weighting its options and suddenly veered and trotted away on the path going to the lake. Sylvia let her booted feet fell on the wooded planks of the porch as she heard, astonished, the splashing going on in the lake. Through the branches, she could barely see the big form of the stray rolling in the water. "_It understood me!!! That's impossible!!_" 

Reeling from the shock, she looked at the dog shaking itself dry and coming back to eat the rest of its food. Stopping in front of its bowl, it gave her a strange glance before lowering its head to the food.

"_God, am I dreaming? I feel like I'm in a Twilight Zone episode! I have to find a way to be sure one way or another_." Her mind going in circle, it took her a while before asking in a shaky voice "Are you a male or a female?" The stay looked up at her questionably. "I have enough of thinking of you as a it, especially now when you seem to be able to understand me!! Give me one bark for male, two for female." She waited, hardly breathing, half wondering if she was going to hear a voice instead of barking. But the dog did nothing, just looked at her and then went back to its feeding.

Slowly, Sylvia felt her face go red as a wave of embarrassment flushed through her, glad there was nobody here to witness her stupidity. "_Stupid, idiot, half-wit…"_ She berated and swore at herself for some time before she regained her composure enough to think, "_It's either the new-age stuff, the stress or the solitude that got to me. Or all three. I just hope I'm not really going crazy here. Maybe I imagined that stint with the bath and the lake. Maybe it was just a coincidence. Oh shit! There's nothing I can do. If I'm going nuts…_" she did not cared to finish that train of thought. 

The familiar taste of fear was in her mouth, and her hands started shaking, "_Oh no! Not again._" She knew well enough the first symptoms of a panic attack and tried to forestall it by taking deep breaths but the fear of the crisis itself was feeding the reaction and soon her breathing got strained and her body drenched in a cold sweat. She fought against it as much as she could, knowing it was in vain. In a minute she would be in a tight ball on the floor, shaking and pleading with nothing but a roaring red fire of fear in her mind, the sound of rushing fist in her ears and the pain of breathing in her chest. There was nothing to do really but wait until it runs its course. She knew that but fought anyway, willing it to stop, praying for release but unable to control the growing storm rising in her.

Suddenly, she felt something cold touch her left hand, she opened her eyes and almost choked on her breathing when she stumbled into two deep black eyes full of concern, drilling holes into her soul. With a cry, she took the dog's head between her hands and with her fingers cringing in the soft fur, chained herself to those eyes as if in there she could find the reason to live, the reason to fight, the reason to breathe. Somewhere in the maelstrom, she found a tread where she had never found one before, gripping it with the strength of desperation, she followed a voice softly saying _"/Come, come…I'll help you…don't be afraid...come, come…/_". Her whole body was shaking now, the voice was so far away and small, the tread so fragile and the wind howling inside so violently that she almost lost it. The wet dog's nose touched hers and its paws lift to her lap. The voice came back, stronger, and the tread became a small rope pulling her inch by inch back to sanity. The shaking subsided, her breathing became easier, her tears started to flow and slowly she put her head in the dog's neck, her arms coiled around its body and there she cried like she had not let herself cry in more than three years. The dog had kept the winds away, maybe magic was real after all…

* * *

Once she had calmed down, feeling muscles scream all over her, she untangled herself from the dog enough so that it could get down to its feet and after a small lick at her hand, turned around, tail high, and went down the steps. She had a pretty good view of its rear end then, she smiled ruefully, "_Well, that answers that…it's a he_!" 

Tacking a tissue in her pocket, she wiped her eyes and blew her nose thinking "_Don't be ridiculous, that was not magic, just the comfort of someone, something being there for me. It had been _much_ too long since I have touch and cling to a warm body, even a strange dog is better than nothing._" "Thanks dog" she said while he dropped to the ground, putting his head on his front paws. Closing her eyes, she let the sounds, smell and feel of summer ease her back to her usual self. Feeling better, she opened her eyes to reality. "What about giving you a name? Now that we're friends, I can't go on calling you Dog." She waited but he didn't seem very interested as he was examining a bee that had just landed on a flower near his nose. "What do you think of …mmm… Skif? It's the name of a character in a story I read a few years back. He was a thief, a scoundrel and a vagabond. It kind of fits you." The dog's eyes lifted from their contemplation just long enough to make eye contact and bark once, then went back to the bee. 

She smiled, feeling better than she had in weeks, then laughed gaily at his disappointed look as the bee flew away, and said "I'll take that as a yes!" Still chuckling, she took the computer on the bench, propped her feet on the banister once again and started working. She didn't notice the wonder in the dog's eyes, his ears up, straining to get the last notes of her chuckling laughter.

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-Note: I'm a French-Canadian from Montreal, I'm sorry to say that English is not my first language. I want to apologize for any grammatical and syntax error or misspelling that find their ways into this text. Be certain that I do everything in my power to make sure that such insults to the beauty of Shakespeare's language are seen and destroyed. If you find any mistakes, please let me know so that I can correct it. Thank you!!


	4. Revelations

DISCLAIMER: This story is based on materials owned by the great J.K. Rowling. I do not make any money with it or anything…Only the Sylvia Shaw character is mine.

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Grim: Thank you, thank you, thank you. You made my day. I'm so glad you like Sylvia, she's been screaming in my head for a while now, nagging me to write her story. You want more? Here you go!!

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Carrotchicken13: I rather liked writing that bit too and don't worry, her big secret is coming, but not just yet.

4- Revelations 

In the next few days, the weird friendship between the two grew stronger, the dog would come to Sylvia and sit or sleep near her on the porch, which he had never done before, and would even let her pet him a little bit for short periods. He never tried to enter the cabin but would gladly climb into the car for a ride or follow her in her walks in the forest or her swims in the lake. He also took the habit of licking her hand to welcome her or say goodbye and almost never barked. All in all, Sylvia thought he was uncannily well behaved and restrained for a wild dog, which sometime made her slightly uncomfortable but she kept that thought away as much as possible. 

The dog still disappeared pretty often, sometimes for a couple of days at a time. Sylvia didn't mind. She knew she could not totally turn him into a domesticated animal, he was much too wild and independent for that. She kind of liked it, he had his own life after all and that way, she knew that she would have less difficulty losing him when the time comes for her to move away again. Anyway, she mused, their relationship was more like two companions sharing a place to stay and trusting each other to keep their intimacy than a master/dog thing. She was not responsible for him, he was not dependant on her for his survival, he would be able to cope for himself once she's gone and that was a great comfort to her. Yet, she could not believe that the words 'trust', 'respect' and 'understanding' could apply to a relationship with a dog, but that was exactly how she felt about it. She had heard that some people thought of and treated their animals as if they were human beings but she had always dismissed these as weirdoes with no sense of reality. Now she was one of them. The only problem she saw was that she didn't know how Skif felt about her. He was always friendly but she felt he was still weary of her and never displayed excitement or exuberance when he met her, or looked for physical contact beyond a quick lick on the hand on his part or the short ruffle of his fur on hers. Maybe, when the time comes, _she_ would be the one with problems leaving him. 

Still, he had done so much for her. She was more relaxed than she had been for a long time. So she felt she had a right to try and help him too. She was a little concerned for him, for each time he was away, he came back more and more nervous and anxious. These days, he could not stay put for more than a half-hour and slept fitfully near her during the day. She had no idea what he was about at night but was pretty sure he did not sleep, nor stay close to the cabin. His nervous energy was the reason why Sylvia started to arrange time off from her work so that she could help him get that nervousness out of his system. She organized long trek in the forest, some easy climbing of one of the smaller mountains around or playing Frisbees for hours. It was during those times, when he seemed less tense and more at ease that Sylvia could see unnatural dog behavior creep in more and more often. He always seemed to understand everything she said and she even once caught him visibly reading the CNN news rolling on her laptop. Since she have decided to act as if there was nothing unusual, telling herself she was paranoid, he was letting things slip a little bit more every day. Sylvia had a pretty bad time of it sometimes, trying to stay calm about it all, but she was also curious and wanted to see to what length things could go towards absurdity. She wanted to know if she was going mad or not. To release some of her own stress, she one day had taken to start practicing her Tae Kwon Doe once again. 

That one had been funny the first time. Skif had looked with astonishment at her antics and then as the exercise grew more complex and demanding, had sat and looked with a great deal of interest and attention to her movements. Sylvia had been a red belt before her marriage to HIM, but then had stopped and so didn't get her black belt. The first thing she had done after she had gotten better, had been to get Tae Kwon Doe courses again and try for the wanted belt. She was very proud of the black piece of cloth wrapped around her waist; it was a proof of her new independence and victory against HIM. The dog had looked carefully at the katas for two more days before doing something Sylvia had never thought possible: he had jumped in to work with her. 

At first, he had played the part of an aggressor, forcing her to use every ounce of ability she had and use muscle and movements she never could have, working alone. He worked her without mercy for strength, reflexes, agility and concentration. Then, he turned to stand at her side and started to work as a partner, fighting with her against an invisible opponent. That had been a revelation for Sylvia. Skif, knowing the movements, would go in as she finished a kick, covering her side, then would be there at just the right moment to add strength to a punch, weaving in and out to give her an opening, protect her back or give her time to breathe. It was wonderful and incredibly beautiful, like a dance with the sun and the wind. Sylvia had never felt such joy, such completeness, such trust in another. After two hours, they had stopped, too physically exhausted to continue, but Sylvia was happy, her mind clear for the first time in several weeks with an energy and eagerness for life she had thought never possible to experience again. 

Lying on her back on the warm grass and trying to get her breath back, she had rolled on her side to look at the dog panting beside her. She put a shy and hesitant hand on his head saying slowly, "Thank you Skif, that was the most extraordinary experience of my life. I don't know who or what you are, why you're here, where you could have learn to do that or even if you care about me, but it's ok, I'm not scared anymore. You're my friend and I feel honored to know you and work with you regardless of the numerous impossibilities surrounding you."

During her small speech, the dog had closed his eyes, but when she made as to retrieve her hand from his head at the end of the tirade, he whined. He pushed his nose to her face, caressing her cheek gently with his before putting his head down on her shoulder with a sight of contentment while she scratched his ears. 

***

A week later, Sylvia was in her bed, sleep eluding her and anxiety churning in her stomach. Skif had been gone for almost two days now and he had been incredibly nervous in the hours before disappearing. He had snapped at her when she had tried to touch him to help. She had never seen him like that before. Even their daily Tae Kwon Doe routine had been a disaster, he could not concentrate and had just went away to pace. Sylvia wished she knew what was going on, but then, on the other hand it was probably better not to know. She still had doubts about her sanity and for the sake of what was left of it, she felt safer not looking too closely at Skif's peculiarities. "_Yea, I feel safer but not less curious or anxious, that's for sure! Stop thinking about it, there's nothing you can do. Get some sleep._" But the voice of reason did nothing to assuage her tension and sleep didn't came to calm her worried mind. She couldn't believe how much she had come to care for a dog, even if it was a strange one.

All of a sudden, she heard the _pat, pat, pat, pat_… of Skif's paws on the packed dirt of the road, then on the porch. She was on her feet in a second, grabbing her nightgown and putting it on, hearing small sounds of distressed moaning coming from the dog's throat outside. That sound tore at her heart and she started running toward the porch, unlocking the door and switching the lights on. 

"Skif, God! What's going on?" she went on her knees near the black stray laying on his stomach, his eyes closed. She put one hand slowly on his back and felt a muscle twitch but otherwise felt no other reaction to her presence. He did not look at her or stop moaning. He just lay there. She started to caress him from head to tail, murmuring softly "I'm here my friend, let me help you like you helped me…trust me, please." 

And then the shaking started and the moaning became almost a howl. She swore she could almost hear words through the noise, something that sounded suspiciously like… "/**_my fault….the cup…couldn't protect him…so sorry…James/_**" 

Huh?! Sylvia shook her head to get ride of the creepy almost words sound and pushing it into the corner of her mind where all the other Skif's impossibilities had stacked and refused to think of it. The voice of reason in the back of her head said wryly, _"That corner is getting cramped, you'll have to face it all eventually, you know._" "_Maybe, but not now, Skif first._" She thought waving reason aside for one of the first time in her life.

She took the dog in her arms and went inside to put him on her bed. There, she enveloped him in a warm blanket and lay beside him her arms around him caressing his face while talking to him gently and softly. 

When she woke up, he was still there in her arms, twitching and moaning slightly in his sleep. She moved carefully so as not to wake him, and went into the kitchen to prepare their breakfast. She put Skif's overflowing bowl on the kitchen floor and then went to the table to eat and work until he woke up.

***

For the next few days, he stayed close to her, sleeping on her bed at night and working her on her routine harder than ever. Then at the end of June, in the light of the setting sun, he came back from the forest, his head bowed down. 

Sylvia got to her feet to wait for him on the porch, something was wrong, she knew. Skif's tail was trailing between his legs and he was avoiding looking her in the eyes. He walked up to the porch, licked her hand and sat down on his hunch, finally looking up at her. Then, suddenly, he stood on his rear legs, put his front paws on her shoulders and pushing his nose in her neck, actually _hugged_ her!

She stood there, frozen with shock until she understood in a flash. "You're leaving." she breathed. She felt his nod. She hugged him back. "God! I'm going to miss you. There's a chance I won't be here when or if you ever come back." He licked her delicately on the cheek, almost like a kiss, then got back on all four with a sigh before turning toward the forest just as the last ray of sun disappeared behind the mountains.

She stayed there for what seemed like hours, looking at the spot where he had disappeared, feeling lost. "_Now I'll never know who he really was, in a few months I'll think back on this and will rationalize it as a dream or an hallucination._" Unwilling to let the dream vanish so fast, she went down to the forest path and started walking in the darkness remembering every time she had been here with him.

Abruptly, as if on cue, she heard a dog's howl of pain and human voices shouting some distance in front of her. The sound made the air on her arms raise in the air, and without thinking, she started running towards the fray. 

She soon saw a clearing in the woods where a big black dog was cornered, surrounded by at least five men draped all in black with hoods concealing their features. Skif, for it was him, was writhing on the ground, visibly in considerable pain while one of the man was standing over him laughing, with a stick in his hand pointing toward the stray. Visibly, the stick was some kind of weapon, so she did the only thing she could think of; she barged on the scene and with one down slash with the side of her hand, cut the stick in half. Then without waiting for the man's stunned reaction, swirled to knock him with a side kick. Skif, coming back on his feet, snarled and jumped on another man who was weaving his stick and shouting something she did not understand. A blast of green light landed just behind her on a tree, but she gave it no heed as she was rather occupied with two of those freaky weirdoes. She and Skif fought together the way they had so many times practiced, and the result was soon apparent: they were winning. Just as she was finishing with the last one, she heard a shout in that strange language all of the black man were using and turning, saw another black robe man at the edge of the clearing and a great flash of darkness landing on Skif, catching him in mid-leap. Full of fear and anger, she grabbed a stone on the ground, near the guy she had just decked and threw it across the space straight at the man's forehead. He crumbled immediately, out cold.

Turning to see if Skif was ok, she could see nothing at first but a glowing cloud of yellow-black fumes pulsating around a shimmering black body. Sylvia rubbed her eyes thinking a blow at her head had ruined her perfect vision, but when she looked again, it was worse. The dog's body seemed to be…melting?!

She took a step forward tentatively. "Skif? SKIF!"

The melting grew worse then slowly the shimmering died down and the yellow fumes dispersed. But the body it revealed was not that of a dog but of a man. Then the head turned and Sylvia saw two deep black eyes she knew well standing in the strange, fierce and bleeding human face. The lips of the stranger opened to let a tiny croaking sound escape. "Help. Me." 

Sylvia only thought before a sweeping darkness engulfed her was "_That's it then, it happened, I've snapped._"

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I'm a French-Canadian from Montreal, I'm sorry to say that English is not my first language. I want to apologize for any grammatical and syntax error or misspelling that found their ways into this text. Be certain that I do everything in my power to make sure that such insult to the beauty of Shakespeare's language are seen and destroyed. If you find any mistakes, please let me know so that I can correct it. Thank you!!


	5. Shock waves

DISCLAIMER: This story is based on materials owned by the great J.K. Rowling. I do not make any money with it or anything…Only the Sylvia Shaw character is mine.

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Padfoot1979: Thanks for the good words, I feel better knowing that my English doesn't suck too much. As for the evil end of the last chapter…that was fun to do. Knowing that people actually read it (I mean, wow!) makes it so very much more interesting. 

Rugi: Don't worry, I will explain HIM soon. Thanks for the "fun Sirius fic" words. (glow of happiness J )

NiteQueen: Don't worry, I'm not about to quit. I'm too addicted to this story now… and to the reviews!!!

5- Shock waves

Sylvia woke up with a start, wondering why she was so cold and why the mattress was so wet. Then she discovered she was laying in a heap on the grass and remembered everything. She raised her head to look around and saw the strange man that had been Skif, crawling, trying desperately to reach the stick of one of the fallen dark men. He visibly could not stand and seemed in a lot of pain.

"S.. S.. Skif?" She called, unsure of anything. If she was mad, the madness was nothing like she expected, there was too much sense to it. The scene around her was exactly as she had left it before fainting and she had never heard of an hallucination that was so detailed with the clear consequences of previous actions.

The man she used to call Skif turned his head at the sound of her voice and again called out to her weakly "Please. Help."

She could not refuse him, not with those two familiar eyes pleading her. She stood up on her shaky legs and went to retrieve the stick he was trying to grab, giving it to him. She knelt near him and asked shyly. "What can I do, tell me how to help you."

"Owl…Dumbledore." He rasped, pointing his finger towards a nearby tree where she could see in the dim moonlight a barny owl sitting fretfully on a branch. Was the owl name Dumbledore??

Skif murmured a word and just beside him a piece of paper and a…a _quill_ appeared out of nowhere! Sylvia gasped at that and a wave of dizziness grabbed her. She dismissed it by putting her head down on her knees. She had no time for that! Breathing deeply, she raised her head and took the quill with a steady hand. "What do I write, and to whom?" she questioned.

"Ask…Dumbledore…to come help…fast."

"_I'll right, go girl you can do it._" she thought, and started writing as fast as she could.

****

To whoever get this,I've been asked by a black dog, who have transformed into a man before my eyes, to demand the help of a Dumbledore because he is hurt bad. Black robe men with stick had ambushed him and he now need help fast. We are in a clearing in the woods near the little hunting cabin, on lake Gabriel's shore.

If I'm not crazy and this is real, please come as fast as you can. 

She was afraid it was a little confused and sounded more than a little ridiculous but it was the best she could do right now. She also did not dare to put her name down since she gave the location of her cabin in it. Putting the quill on the grass and folding the paper she asked "Now what?"

He took the paper and with a trembling hand showed it to the owl who immediately flew down to take it in its beak. The man said to it "To Dumbledore. Fast. Go." And obediently, the bird took off in the night.

Just then, one of the dark robe man started to groan. Sylvia jumped to her feet and ran to knock him uncounscious again. To make sure, she checked all the others and took all the sticks, her mind scurrying away from the word wand, but everything seemed in order.

She came back to Skif, now on his back, his eyes closed, visibly out cold and examined him closely. He had sharp features with a strong nose, a stubborn round chin and an expressive mouth. His black slightly waving hair was long, almost covering his shoulders. He was also bleeding a good deal from his mouth and nose and seemed to have trouble breathing. Sylvia was pretty sure he had a good numbers of his bones broken and wince_. "What kind of weapon can do that!?"_ she thought uncomfortably. She didn't know what to make of him, he was not Skif the dog anymore, her friend and partner, he was a stranger, and a very strange stranger at that. Finally, she took her handkerchief in her pocket and after going to the lake to wet it, start wiping the blood from his face.

A popping sound behind her made her turn sharply around, crouched low in a defensive position. An old man with long shinning white beard and hair, violet ankle length robe and half moon spectacles, was standing at the entrance of the clearing with one of those stick kind of wand in his hand. He looked at her hovering over Skif's body and smiled. "I'm Albus Dumbledore, " he said simply, "I'm here to help."

He looked around and noting the string of black robe man sprawled around the place, murmured a short command. A huge amount of rope came out of his wand and went down on the turf like weird kind of snakes to coiled itself around the bad guys.

Satisfied with that, he approached her, "I trust you're the one who sent me this?" He continued, showing her a piece of paper with her scribbling plain on it. She nodded, relaxing her position. He took a good look at Skif then asked "Is your cabin far away?" "No, not really." she answered in an amazingly calm voice. "_I'm in shock._" she thought absent mindedly. 

"Show me the way then, he needs to be warm and Poppy can take care of him there." With that he said something that finished with "leviosa" and Skif's men body started to levitate a good 2 meters above ground. Dumbledore took him delicately by the right ankle, and gestured to her to precede him. Gulping down her nervousness, she started walking down the path, wondering what or who Poppy was. 

***

She showed them in and opened the door to her room. Standing back, she let Dumbledore ease the body down on the bed. Letting him settle Skif, she went to the kitchen to boil water for tea. This was all even more surreal here in the hard light of reality, in her every day surrounding. She definitely needed something a good deal stronger than tea to get her through the night, so she fished some brandy from the sideboard and waited for the tea to get ready. 

A moment later, Dumbledore came out of her room, looking out of place in the modern interior with her laptop and cell phone nearby. He came to her, "Thank you for saving his life, my dear, we would have missed him dearly. Can I be so bold as to ask your name?" 

He looked so benign and fatherly that Sylvia relaxed a bit more "Sylvia Shaw, euh…sir." she had no idea how one was supposed to address a wizard, "Do you want some tea?" she added, making some effort at casualness as if she had magicians visiting her in the cabin all the time. 

"Gladly, but first I must ask you if I can use your fireplace?" Sylvia start panicking a little bit at that, for some reasons she doubted he just wanted to start a fire. _"What is he gonna do, ride up the chimney like Santa Claus?" _she giggled nervously at the thought and sensing her mood, he added, his eyes sparkling "Don't worry, I'm not going to blow the place up, but I do need to call some people."

"_Call?! With a fireplace?!_ " Stifling her laughter, she waved "Yea, sure, you go ahead, whatever you need." 

To her utter surprise, he did cast a fire and started talking to it. She could only see his back so didn't really see anything, for which she was very glad. She catched the words "aurors", "death eaters" and "send a team" then "Mrs. Pomfrey" but not much else. 

When he came back to join her at the table, she had prepared two cup of tea and had poured a good amount of brandy in hers. He nodded his thanks and sat down in front of her.

"Now, Mrs. Shaw, I'd like to know exactly what happened tonight. Don't rush and start at the beginning." She took a gulp of tea and feeling the warmth of the beverage spread and unclench her stomach, began talking, haltingly, starting with the strange dog that had become her friend. 

Halfway trough her recalling, a knock at the door interrupted her. Answering it, she discovered on her doorstep a middle age matron with a bag of paraphernalia and trailing an odor of astringent. "Yes?" Impatiently, the women declared " I'm Mrs. Pomfrey, I'm here to take care of Mr. Black." Sylvia looked at her blankly. "Mr. Black?"

Behind her, Dumbledore exclaimed "Poppy, come in. Sirius is in the bedroom in the back." Bewildered, Sylvia let the women in and showed her the door to her room. Mrs. Pomfey went in, all business.

Sylvia looked at the old man and wondered softly "Sirius…Black? Is that his real name?"

"Yes, but I don't think I'm the right person to tell you his story. Why don't you come and finish yours?" He led her back toward the table, gently but firmly.

She ended up telling him everything and more. She had to catch herself a few times before saying too much about her past. It had been so long since she had had a good compassionate listener. She didn't know how he did it, but she find that she trusted him, his eyes were too warm, and his smile too understanding for her peace of mind. The need to have someone to share the weight of her worries became quite overwhelming and she stop talking when she started feeling the walls in her inner defenses cracking ominously. She could not risk trusting this man, she did not know him and what's more, she did not know exactly what he was.

Taking another sip of tea, she hurriedly rallied her strength before crumbling down, and said a little abruptly, "That's it, there's nothing else." 

He stood there, pensively looking at her, as if he understood much more than the little she had said. That made her real nervous. Fortunately, Mrs. Pomfrey came in at just that moment, a frown on her face. Dumbledore immediately rose an eyebrow in question.

"He's going to be okay, I gave him a potion to mend his bones though, he's in for quite a painful night. The thing is…" she hesitated, glancing at Sylvia. She continued at a slight nod from the old wizard, "he should not be moved tonight, I'm afraid he'll have to stay here." 

"Is that a problem for you?" the white hair men asked Sylvia. She shrugged, "No. I'll sleep on the couch. Is there anything I have to give him? Some drugs or…or potions?" 

Looking relieved by her question, Mrs. Pomfrey put on the table 2 little bottles, one green and one violet. "Yes, please. Give him two spoonful of the green one in three hours and one spoonful of the violet in the morning, when he wakes up." She gave her a tight smile before hurrying up to the door, saying " I'll be back tomorrow around midmorning." Then she was gone. 

Dumbledore stood there, seemingly lost in thoughts for a while. When he looked at her he said very seriously, "Mrs. Shaw, I know the day had been very trying for you and that you are not sure what to believe anymore. I can assure you that you are NOT dreaming and that you are definitively not crazy. There is one thing I can do to help you though; I can make you forget everything strange that have happened to you these few weeks. The only thing you would remember, would be the taming of a ordinary stray dog and its disappearance one day. Nothing else." He stopped, studying her, then went on when she said nothing. "I personally think you're made of a stronger stuff than you're willing to admit. I also suspect to what you need right now is a good friend, incidentally so does he." he indicated the room door with his hand. " I suggest you ponder that. You also might want to have a long talk with Mr. Black. You can tell me what you have decided tomorrow evening, in the meantime have a good sleep." He put a hand on her shoulder shortly, then went trough the door, closing it behind him. Steer by habit, she locked it and trying to make her mind behave in a normal fashion, went to get prepare for what promised to be a long, long night on the couch. 


	6. Explanations

DISCLAIMER: This story is based on materials owned by the great J.K. Rowling. I do not make any money with it or anything…Only the Sylvia Shaw character is mine.

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NiteQueen: Thank you so much for your enthusiasm, I'm thrilled to see I can keep people reading until 2:30 A.M., though I hope you survived the next day without too much problems!! 

Stormcloud Empath: Oh! Your attempt is far from being that bad, really! It actually gets better with time. Thank you Grammar Priestess for your indulgence, but I really think I need a good beta reader to check my verb conjugation and teach me what I'm doing wrong. (Hint, hint!!!) After all I'm only a novice!

Rugi: I'm happy I made you laugh and you won't have to wait for long…here is THE talk, I just hope you'll like it! 

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A/N: Sorry about the wait but work caught up with me and gosh, this chapter was tough to write. I had to rewrite and edit it continuously. I'm still not sure about the result. So read and review, and hang on, it's a long one.

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6- Explanations

Sylvia ended up not seeing much of the couch after all, since Black tossed, turned and moaned for all it was worth throughout the night. Tired of walking endlessly back and forth between the small sitting area and the bedroom to soothe him back to sleep, she finally settled in the uncomfortable straight chair she used to drape clothes on, putting it close to the bed. 

Seeing that rather large man in her small bed was strangely disturbing. She had made a point, these last long months, never to be stuck alone with a man. She could defend herself, of course, but that would attract attention to her and her first rule of survival was to never put herself in a potentially dangerous situation. So, she learned to avoid elevators, to never walk out at night in town and to never ever get a stranger into her bed. Actually, it has been many months since anyone, stranger or friend have found their ways into her bed, or her life for that matter. Relationships too were potentially dangerous, especially since it was a relationship gone awry that had put her in this mess in the first place.

But now, there was a man in her bed, a half-naked, handsome and very dangerous one. With Skif the dog, it had been easy to let herself feel affection and trust, it was safe. But with this man… Sylvia fidgeted in her chair, remembering uncomfortably all that he knew about her. She had let him into her house, he had seen her coming out of the shower with nothing but a towel on, worse, he had seen her cry and felt her fear. She did not know what to do now. Sirius Black had slipped through her defenses and she was not sure if she would be able to protect herself emotionally if he chose to remind her of all that they had shared, if he chose to act like a friend and not like a stranger. She was honest enough with herself to admit that she was craving for friendship, for love. Her reaction to both Skif the dog and Dumbledore was proof of that. And that was what scared her the most, that need was the reason she had accepted for years to be emotionally, then physically abused. That was her vulnerability. "_How can one know who is safe to love and who isn't?_" She thought warily. 

Just then, as if taking pity on her mental rambling, Black started to trash on the bed, visibly in the throes of a nightmare. Glancing at her watch, she saw that it was time for the green potion anyway, it would be easier to give it to him if he was awake. 

With a deep breath and a hesitant hand, she reached for his shoulder and gave it a little shake. " Mr. Black, wake up, it's time for you medicine." Her voice sounded small and unsure. Frowning at her lack of strength, she cleared her throat and called again. "Mr. Black, please, you have to take your potion." And she touched him again on the chest. She didn't know what she expected but it was not what happened then. 

He jumped straight out of the bed and was halfway to the bedroom door before his legs collapsed under him. He turned around on his knees, his eyes unfocused and his teeth bared as if he intended to shred to pieces anything that came close to him. Sylvia froze in fear, the violence in him was unmistakable, it was so raw, so…primal. She shivered. Then, slowly, sanity seemed to come back into his eyes as he took a survey of his surrounding, and he said " Oh! It's you, " then putting his hand on the wall for support, he tried to get up. 

Sylvia, gaping at him from the bedside, closed her mouth with a snap and shaking out of her paralyzing state, forced herself to go and help him. "Really Mr. Black, you're not an easy patient to have around." She took his arm from the wall and put it around her shoulder. She shivered again, she hadn't been so close to another human being in ages, the sensation was both uncomfortably pleasant and more than slightly scary.

"You know who I am," he said. "Obviously," she answered, straining to move his large bulk in the direction of the bed. It was not easy since he was not helping at all. "How…I mean, who told you? And why I'm I here?" This was the longest sentence she had heard from him yet and she discovered that she liked his deep rasping voice. Feeling her knees starting to buckle from the strain of holding him up, she groaned, "Let's get you back into bed first and then I'll explain it to you." Nodding, he let her steer him towards the bed, one shaky footstep at a time.

Once he was finally safely back under the covers, she sat on the chair to explain. "I know your name because Albus Dumbledore and Madam Pomfrey were here and told me, kind of. They said you could not be moved because of your injuries, so I got landed with you to take care of you for the night. Madam Pomfrey gave me a potion you need to drink around now." She reached for the spoon and the bottle on the side table and jumped with nervousness when his hand on her arm stopped her. "What else did they told you…about me?" He sounded anxious and she looked at him in surprise. "Nothing. Dumbledore said he did not feel he was the right one to tell me your story." Relief flashed in his eyes and he released her arm. She had a feeling she was not going to hear it from him either. He took the potion dutifully but with a grimace of disgust. Sylvia was glad he didn't made a fuss, it was high time he took it for his forehead was shining with sweat from his recent exertion and under the sheets, his legs were visibly still shaking. 

He looked around the room again and said unexpectedly, "Maybe I should sleep on the couch. It doesn't seem appropriate to take your bed." He did look a bit uncomfortable to be there. "Don't be ridiculous," she said more sheepishly than she intended. She was annoyed to think that she would probably never know this strange man's secret and that tomorrow he would disappear from her life like the ghost of something that might have been, "the way you toss around, you'd forever fall down on the floor. Furthermore, I'm not strong enough to help you all the way to the sitting room. And neither are you." She glared at him to make sure her point got across. 

He grinned at her, his whole face suddenly filled with merriment, his eyes sparkling, "Is that a dare? I have to warn you that I just can't resist a good dare." His eyes softened when she just looked back at him, dumfounded by the sudden change in him. "Thank you for saving my life and taking care of me. I know it must all be very strange and difficult for you, " he said simply. He reached out slowly to her face brushing his fingers on her cheek, "I promise I will never bother you again as soon as I'm better and can get back to my world." She couldn't answer, she just stayed there mesmerized by his eyes, held in place by the memory of the furtive caress of his fingers, all thoughts discarded by the warmth dancing in his gaze and coming from his whole being. He continued, "I will surely miss our daily practice session though, partner…" His look turned whimsical, he leaned his head to the side just like Skif used to do, "What _is_ your name anyway?" 

That broke the spell Sylvia was under and laughing freely in spite of all the warning bells screaming in her head, answered, "My name is Sylvia Shaw. Nice to meet you." She extended her hand in front of her and he took it, beaming at her. "I'll make a deal with you, Mrs. Shaw. If you tell me your tale, I'll tell you mine. What do you say?" He freed her hand, visibly shocked himself by his sudden proposal, but staying with it. 

Troubled, Sylvia got up from her chair and went to look out the window, now weary of the power this man seemed to have on her. Every one of her instincts told her to turn him down, to make sure he goes in the morning without any hope of further contacts, but she was too damn curious and not knowing was eating at her. Not only that, she wanted to be able to see him again, to explore what it could mean to count this man as a friend. "_NO, he is too dangerous. Think of his attitude when he awoke, that anger, that violence could just as easily be directed at YOU. There is no way you can trust him. Stick to what you know, to what you are sure of._ " Taking a deep breath, she forced herself to close the door to the fantasy of friendship, love and support and willingly took back the familiar mantle of loneliness and safety. Her face close, she turned around, to face him. Seeing her face, he passed a nervous hand in his long hair before apologizing, "Look, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said that. I'm really grateful for everything you did for me and…well, I thought maybe I could help you back, or something." His voice faltered and he fell silent.

"Get some sleep, you still have a lot of healing to do." She said, then walked out of the room before his eyes could trick her again to open herself to him against all good sense.

***

She woke up when the hand she held in hers started to move away, instinctively, she gripped it more strongly and raised her head sleepily only to find herself staring into Black's eyes. She hastily released his hand, blushing furiously. After he had gone back to sleep last night, his nightmares and moaning had resumed. Too high strung to sleep anyway, she had came back to calm him. She had discovered that holding his hand seemed to help him sleep more peacefully, so she had let it lay there. She had stayed there with his hand in hers for most of the night. Her entire being was in turmoil; thinking about all that had happened to her, what Dumbledore had told her, how she felt about this strange man trusting her enough to accept her taking care of him, and he offering her his story. In the end, looking at his peaceful and younger looking sleeping face, she had made her decision. She had enough of being scared all the time; she could not withstand the pressure of a genuine offer of friendship. It was dangerous, yes, but a calculated risk. She could disappear in the blink of an eye. After all, she had drugs she could feed him, personas she can slip into in an instant, and half a dozen hiding places around the country that no one can link back to her or any of her other, already used disguises. She felt that maybe it was worth the risk in order to know what was happening here. 

As everyone knows, knowledge is power and she needed to discover what these weird wizarding people could do so that she could find ways to escape them if needed to. She knew she was rationalizing her emotional need, but she didn't care. It made sense and that made her feel better. She hated the idea of forgetting everything, she would forget but these people would still remember her, and could talk about her. That was much more dangerous than learning the truth.

"Sorry to have awakened you, " he said eyeing her speculatively, not sure what was her mood this morning, "but I really need to go to the bathroom." She looked at him closely, "Are you strong enough to go there by yourself?" He nodded, "I think so." He slowly put his feet on the floor and got up, swaying just a little. He took one tentative step, then another and smiled, growing more confident. He carefully traded his path to the door and out without even stumbling once. Sylvia shook her head in wonder. Magic certainly had its uses. She almost wished she could drink some of that marvelous potion herself, she now ached everywhere from sleeping half-sitting on the chair and half-laying on the bed. She had not slept more than a couple of hours and that was not helping her case. She stretched to ease some of her cramped muscles, got dressed and went into the kitchen to prepare breakfast. It was still pretty early in the morning; they had time before Madam Pomfrey's visit.

He joined her as she was putting the omelets on their plates, standing on the doorway unsure of how to act around her. He had showered and got dressed in his old black clothes. "Come. It's ready." She said placing the plates on the table where two mugs of fresh coffee awaited. He came in and sat in front of her. "You have to drink a spoonful of that," she said, gesturing at the violet bottle still on the table where Madam Pomfrey had put it. He did, then they ate in silence, both absorbed by their own thoughts. After her last bite, she announced, "I thought about your offer, last night. I agree. If you're willing to tell me your story, I'll tell you mine. If you still want to, of course. I'll…I'll even go first." She was getting nervous, he was there looking at her with big round eyes, his cup halfway to his mouth. 

"Are you sure?" he asked finally, putting his mug back down. She thrust her chin forward in defiance. "Yea. Are you?" He gave her a small smile, "I've been torturing my mind in the last weeks, wondering why you were here and why you were so scared. I've elaborated some pretty weird theories but I just don't know enough about you or your world to guess anything. I didn't even know your name before yesterday! Of course, I'm willing! If…" She raised her eyebrows at him, waiting to ear the rest, he licked his lips nervously, "If you promised me that you'll never tell… anyone about it." Well, that sounded interesting, and was easy to swear, she was not talking to anyone anyway. 

"Done, if you promise never to tell my story either." He nodded, his gaze alight with anticipation, he leaned forward. 

"So, you first?" She stood up and went back to her room to fetch two carefully hidden books. She came back and put them on the table. One was a photo album, the other was a scrapbook. 

She opened the first. It was her wedding album. "This is me, five years ago, at my wedding." He looked shocked. "You're married?!" "Yes. This is my husband… Timothy. He's a high-ranking officer at Interpol. You know the police?" she explained at his perplexed look. "Anyway, he's pretty rich and about 12 years older than me. At first, we were pretty happy but around a year into our marriage, he started to change. It was slow and insidious and I never saw it coming. He started to control where I was going and with whom, he sent my friends away one by one and even alienated my family who was growing worried. Then he started telling me how to dress when we were going out, and was loving and gentle only in public or when I did as I was told. One day, he told me to stop working because he was doing enough for the both of us. I refused; I loved my job too much to give it up. That's when the beating started. I eventually agreed to make him stop and after that, I started scraping for every penny I could get my hands on in order to escape as soon I as could." She made a face, "You see, all our money was in a shared account and one of the first thing he did was to cut my credit and bank card so that I had to ask him for money." She could see anger simmering in Black's eyes as he asked, "Why didn't you ask for divorce?" She sighed, "I tried, but he's rich and powerful, enough anyway to buy or bully for favors, from his fellow officers to judges even. My demand was never processed. He didn't like it much and made very sure I understood never to try it ever again. If I was too hurt and needed to go to a hospital, he'd send me to a private clinic that was owned by his uncle, no one there would ever say anything to incriminate him, no even to me. Without money or the law on my side, there was not much I could do. Then, one night, it all became even more complicated. I was going through Tim's office at home, looking for money, when I stumbled on a strange memo. It was a message from a group with a scary name, asking Tim for specific information about some people whereabouts. In exchange for his help, they would give him money, I never found out how much. I discovered more messages like that and then it hit me, what it all meant. My husband was selling information to a criminal gang. That was my passport to freedom. I decided to make as many copies as I dared and send some to his superior." 

She took a sip of coffee, suddenly unwilling to continue. The memory of what happened then still had the power to wake her up screaming most nights. But Black was not to be thwarted from his right to hear the rest. He prompted softly, "What happened?" She took a deep breath, " The twit that passed for his boss, decided to confront Tim about it before any proof could be unearth, I'm not sure he even ever believed it. The problem was that some of the information in the messages were a little too accurate, some of those people in there were killed, there has to be someone from the inside who was feeding those criminals the information. Tim couldn't dismiss it as a mistake, a prank or something. But he was able to turn the thing to his own advantage as usual. He convinced his boss and then the whole of Interpol that I was the only possible suspect, spying on him in order to get the information and pass it on to the group. He said he would keep an eye on me discreetly then turn me in as soon as he had some proof. He came back home real furious, I had no idea his boss was that stupid and was feeling really happy to have found a solution to my problem. Tim would go to prison and I would be free. He…he knocked me around for a while, boasting about the way he had turned the disaster around for him. Then he really worked himself to punish me, real…real hard, and left me half-dead, saying I was going to prison as soon as he had had enough entertainment out of me." At that point, she had to stop for she had started shaking and breathing hard. Black came to her from around the table and took her hands, locking his gaze to hers. "Hey, come on, you were stronger and more intelligent than him, you got away, you're safe now." And she struggled, trying to control her breathing and the panic, straining to find the strength to overcome it. As before, his eyes held the solution, anchoring her to him amidst the howling of the storm trying to get free inside her to tear her apart. She despairingly clung to it, determined not to be swept away this time, and slowly, slowly, her breathing eased and her fist unclenched. He nodded with relief, "Good." He left her side, returning to his seat, giving her time to compose herself. 

"How did you got away?" he finally asked. She shrugged, "He went to sleep. Fortunately the place where I hid the money that I had manage to steal from him was nearby, I got to it, snatched it and went outside as well I as could. I was still bleeding a lot and my left leg was broken so I couldn't walk for long. I was lucky; I stole a delivery car with its engine still running and was able to drive it to one of my former friend's house. They took care of me." She sighed, "And here I am, with not only Tim after me, but also the whole of Interpol wanting to get their hands on me. My only chance is that the longer I evade them, the more they're likely to investigate the case more and more closely, maybe they'll eventually find some proof that'll incriminate Tim and get me off the hook. There's already have been an inquiry last February because of my disappearance. Apparently he hid the fact that I was long gone, they thought I had slipped through his fingers only about 8 months ago. I went to watch the hearing, in disguise. I wanted to know if it was safe to reveal myself, if they were suspicious of him, maybe I could reappear and testify. But he did it again, he was totally discharged of anything and they decided I must have had an accomplice that got me out of the house. Seeing him again was almost more that I could handle but I had to know."

She fell silent, looking at her wedding picture with distaste, avoiding Black's eyes. She didn't want to see the pity and horror in it. He cut in her musing, "How were they called?" She looked up at him, "Who?" " That gang, you mentioned they had a scary kind of name, I wonder what kind of name you could find scary after all you've gone through." "Oh! Them." She opened the scrapbook and pushed it towards him. It was full of newspaper cuts.

"That's the memos I've found, the police has published it to see if anyone could tell them anything about the organization. Its name is 'The death eaters'.

Black went still as a statue, his face a mask of shock. He was looking, horrified, at the logo of the group on the page: a black skull.


	7. Black's turn

DISCLAIMER: This story is based on materials owned by the great J.K. Rowling. I do not make any money with it or anything…Only the Sylvia Shaw character is mine.

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A/N: In my spare time I have decided to make myself a book cover for this story. If you want to check it out, go to 

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sirius the homicidal maniac : I'm still not sure what is going to happen to Timothy down the line, I do have some pretty interesting ideas though. There are things worst than death you know… anyway, Thank you for your good words (especially: **aack! aw. **:**))**

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Nitequeen: Don't worry, you can say it as many times as you wish, it won't make you less welcome to drop your wonderful reviews in!!! You read my mind on that, just wait and see.

7- Black's turn

  
Mrs. Pomfrey came around 10:30 and declared Black fit for duty. She toured the cabin, making sure no potions or anything blatantly magical was left behind, then was gone with a sharp nod. Sylvia sat back near the kitchen table, "So Mr. Black, since you're officially okay, its your turn to uphold your side of the bargain." He looked down at her, nibbling at his lower lip and after a while made up his mind and sat down, turning the chair so that he could wrap his arms on the back. Sylvia released her breath, she had been afraid that he might decide not to tell her anything. The name of that criminal gang had visibly been an awful shock for him and for a fleeting moment she had been afraid he might be an actual member of the organization. But a good look at the horror and utter disgust he couldn't hide at the sight of the gang messages, relieved her of that fear. 

"I think that maybe now more than ever, you should know the truth not just about me, but about exactly what you're up against." Now, that sounded ominous. Sylvia put her elbows on the table and crossed her hands to still them, ready to hear the worst. Black took a deep breath. "First, you have to know that I'm a fugitive myself, I escaped from the wizarding prison almost two years ago." Sylvia was prepared for the worst, but not for the unexpected. "WHAT? Are you saying that you are THAT Sirius Black, the convicted murderer?!!" She remembered vaguely the stories that had floated around on the news at the time, she knew he had been accused and convicted of killing a number of people. At the time, she had felt somewhat sympathetic for the fugitive as she was trying to live on the run herself. Of course, she was innocent and he was not, so she had dismissed the criminal from her thoughts. She also remembered thinking that he looked more like a animal than a man, filthy, skinny, with a dead look in his eyes. 

She glared at the handsome man in front of her almost accusingly but did not back away, "You've change quite a lot, running away agrees with you." He almost smiled but kept eye contact, waiting for her sentence. "Did you do it? And don't give me some platitude, I want the truth. Just yes or no. Did. You. Kill. All. Those. People?" 

"No." he said clearly. She still looked at him with narrowed eyes for long minutes but he kept his cool and never wavered his gaze from hers. There was no pleading, no hasty explanations, no nervous babbling, just a clear strong gaze, firm and assured. That won her over. She nodded to him, "I believe you. Why don't you tell me what really happened?"

He let out the breath he was holding, slowly and put his forehead on his arms in front of him shortly, in obvious relief. Then looking back at her he said "Thank you, you have no idea how much it means for me to hear that." He grinned slightly, "I should have known that you would not react like any sensible, normal person would. You're much too intelligent for that." She answered his grin, "You should work on your compliments you know, you'll never win any girl's heart with something as backhanded as that." His grin widened, "Is that a dare?" His voice turned theatrical, "I'll have you know that I can turn any and all women's head with my flowery words, oh, most divine of creature. Do I have to tell you how charmingly your crown of curls caresses your neck, inviting, begging almost manly fingers to tickle you seductively? Do I talk about the lush green of your wicked eyes that can turn a man mad with the desire to plunge in their very heart in order to discover your deepest and wildest fantasy? Do I have to ad to the list of your delighting charms, the voluptuous sight of your…lips, made for kissing under the moonlight, teasing every man to come and discover how they taste. Do I…"

Sylvia was laughing so hard she was crying. Not really wanting to know how far he would go, she interjected loudly, "I yield, I yield! You're the greatest smooth talker in the U.K.!" He put his hand over his heart, "You don't believe me? Oh! That hurts."

She tried to stifle her laughter and regain some dignity but every time she looked back at him, he would make a face, winking at her and batting his eyelash like a girl. And off she was again. It felt so good to laugh, to get the tension out, to share a good moment with someone like any normal person, that she hardly wanted it to end. 

Eventually, her stomach hurt so much that she absolutely had to stop. Wiping her eyes, she proposed, "Why don't you tell me everything while I make ourselves some lunch?" "Good idea, I'll help you." he said, standing up and walking toward the small counter to wash his hands.

"It really all began when a dark wizard who calls himself Voldemort started gaining a lot of followers, that's what the Death eaters are you know, his personal gang of bullies. That bastard have a crazy philosophy that wizards should never mingled with non wizard people, we call those muggles. He thinks that muggle blood is something dirty that puts an unforgivable stain on the "purity" of wizardry. You have to know that there are wizards entirely born of muggle parentage and often, a wizard and a muggle would get married and have wizard children, some of them becoming very powerful wizards and witches. Those, Voldemort sees as unfit to learn the Art or give any kind of responsibility or respect. He grew very powerful with time and started killing wizard with muggle sympathies or muggle blood. A lot of good people were murdered. Wizards were so afraid that they started to avoid saying Voldemort's name, as if saying it could bring his attention to them. Throughout the wizarding world, even today, years after his near grab of absolute power, he is known as You-know-who. That's partly the atmosphere I grew up in. Everyone was scared and no one knew what would happen or how to stop the madman."

He continued while making himself a sandwich, "Now, as a young teenager, I was going to Hogwarts school of witchcraft and wizardry, the greatest wizard school there is. There, I made the best friends anyone can hope to have. James Potter, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew and myself used to call ourselves the marauders and were terrible prankster, forever getting into trouble. That was the most wonderful time of my life, we were so close, I considered them my brothers." He smiled fondly at the memories. "But kids grow up, and eventually we all graduated. James got married to his longtime girlfriend, a wonderful girl named Lily Evans and I became an auror, that's a kind of policeman. I was working against Voldemort and the Death Eaters when we got news from one of our spy that You-know-you was targeting James and Lily as his next victims. They had a baby boy, only a year old so they went into hiding." 

Black sat at the table with an enormous plate overflowing with food. He took a bite with a somber look while Sylvia with a more measured lunch, sat in front of him. "What happened to them?" she prodded after a long silence. He shook his head, coming back to reality and sighted. "We knew there was a traitor, for about a year Voldemort had been playing with us, always seeming to know what we were going to do and where we were going to make a raid. To protect the Potters we decided to use the Fidelius charm, a strong bit of magic that totally hides the subject from any form of magical scrying and even to the naked eye. The charm is keyed to one person you trust completely and who is the only one in control of it. We were at the time suspicious of Remus, for reasons I can't disclose to you now, so the Potters and others decided on me to be the key. At the last minute, I thought that I was too obvious a choice and that Voldemort would naturally go after me. I decided to secretly switch and lay a trap for the Death eaters. I offered Peter the Fidelius, he was the smallest and less powerful of us all, no one would think of him. He would be safe, James, Lily and my godson would be safe and I could lead the Death eaters by the nose and catch some of them. Perfect plan." He made a face, pushing his plate away from him, half eaten.

"Something went wrong I presume?" Sylvia said calmly. Black let a dark, derisive chuckle out that was half sob, "You can say that, yes. Peter was the traitor, I handed James and Lily to Voldemort. They died. I did that." Without a word, Sylvia took one of Black's hand laying on the table in hers and held it, trying to send support and understanding trough the gesture. He squeezed her hand back so hard, she almost yelp but she bit her lips and stayed quiet. He obviously needed this and she was not comfortable enough with him to offer more. He closed his eyes for long minutes. When he opened them again he was in control of his emotions, but he didn't try to take his hand back. "What about the baby?" she asked, working around the lump of distress blocking her throat. To her utmost surprise, he smiled a radiant smile of pure happiness. "He survived. His mother gave her life to protect him so when the bastard tried to kill Harry, the curse backfired on him and almost destroyed him. Voldemort fled, barely alive, nothing but a shadow, his powers gone. Harry was unhurt with nothing to show for it but a scar on the forehead that looks like a lightning bolt. A friend took him to live with his only living relatives, some very bad muggles who hates wizards. I went after Peter, I wanted to destroy him as he had destroyed James and Lily. I cornered him in London. He shrieked for all to hear that I had killed my best friends then cut his own finger, blow the street and in the chaos, transformed into a rat and escaped into the sewer. I was taken and sent to Azkaban, the wizard prison, without a trial. That was almost fifteen years ago. I was able to escape as a dog when I discovered by chance where Peter was hiding. I've been trying to find him ever since. Harry Potter is now known to every wizard as the Boy who lived, the only one to ever survive the death curse and the living symbol of the opposition to Voldemort. Now, that wretch Voldemort is back again and Harry is in the middle of it all. That's the reason I'm here now. To try and protect my godson from harm." 

His features turned bleak once more, "But I was not really good at that either. Since I'm still on the run, I had to protect him from a distance. I needed to find a place close by to crash. That's when I met you. Then a couple of weeks ago, Harry was abducted and tortured by that…son of a…" Black stopped, trying to control his temper before continuing, "Harry was able to escaped but a kid was killed. Dumbledore sent me on a mission to ferret out some information, but Peter knows about my animagus form and some death eaters caught me," he smiled at her, squeezing her hand gently, "and then you appeared like an angel of mercy and saved me." 

Black took back his hand and his plate to finish it, his story visibly at an end. She let him eat while she thought about all he have told her. When he was finished, she cut through his musing shyly, "Can I ask you some questions?" He looked at her with a distant smile, "Hum? Oh, yes of course, fire away."

"First, _who is_ Dumbledore and what's his role in all this? I mean, he visibly knows who you are but still protects you, and that Mrs. Pomfrey she did not treat you like a criminal either. That's the reason I first dismissed the idea of you as Sirius Black the murderer." 

Sitting back on his chair he answered, "Dumbledore. All right, Dumbledore is the most powerful wizard in the world, he is also the only one Voldemort is really afraid of. He's the headmaster of Hogwarts and the unofficial leader of those who fights against You-know-who. Last year, while I was trying to catch Peter who was hiding at the school, I was caught and had to tell Dumbledore the truth. He believed me and explained to Harry and his friend Hermione how to get me out before I was…executed. I still don't know exactly how they did it." She looked at him with surprise, "Aren't they just kids?" He smiled, pride shining in his eyes, "Harry is much more older and wiser than his years, sometimes its almost uncanny, the seriousness in him. With his two friends Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger, they are worth two teams of aurors. Harry have already fought and won over Voldemort three times, which is pretty impressive even if you-know who was not at the height of his power." 

Sylvia pondered that for a while, before asking, "Why are wizards hiding from us? I mean if wizards and muggles get married regularly, there must be a lot of people out there knowing about your kind. Why don't you put it into the open?" He nodded, "Your right, lot of people knows about wizards. Parents of wizard children, spouses and some important people in the ministry, but they are all under a compulsion never to talk about it with muggles who are not aware of our existence. That decision was taken centuries ago when it became pretty obvious that muggles and wizards were going in different directions and that wizardry was scaring and disturbing muggles very much. There was the fact too that we didn't care to be hunt down, blame for everything bad or simply be the butt of stupid prejudices and hatred like many other minorities were, and still are, experimenting. About the time we slowly disappeared, the muggles went down the road of science, discovering technologies and new philosophies. Before that, magic and science were one in alchemy, astronomy and medicine, but our withdrawal from your world seemed to push you somehow to the other side of the scale to a mechanical vision of the universe. Now our two wolds are like negatives of one another and can't really work together anymore. Magic doesn't function reliably in an environment were there's a lot of your machines and the same is true for machines running in a place filled with magical energies. That is why we mostly live in remote places."

"Well, that makes sense I guess." 

Sylvia looked out the window, thinking hard, " So, your saying your godson is going to that school…Hogwarts? And that his name is Harry?" Black's eyebrow went up in surprise at her question. "Yea, why do you ask?" She grab the scrapbook without answering and started leafing trough it, muttering under her breath. Then she stopped on a page, reading with a scowl of concentration on her face. "Damn, I kind of hoped I was remembering it wrong but its pretty clear." Annoyed and curious Black demanded "What is it?" Sylvia just pushed the book to him, showing him a letter with her hand. "Read this. It's the last of the Death eaters messages I have found, it's also the most recent. It dates from about the time I got away, about twenty-eight months ago."

Black got whiter and whiter as he read trough it. He looked up at her, dismay on his face. "The Death eaters, They're looking for Harry trough the muggle police! We never thought of that! They hate muggles so much!" 

"Logical though. There most be some sign of Harry somewhere if he used to live with…muggles. Social security, school, medical or maybe even bank records, if he was in the system, his name would be down in hundreds of places. People…I mean, muggles lives and breathes paperwork, if you exist, than you have a file with your name, address and age filed somewhere. Maybe you can put some magic to make sure only the ones who needs to know can read his name, but those can talk, and if they can't, maybe the police is on the list of 'needs to know'. "

"Possible, but it would not do them much good, Dumbledore said he had put some very powerful protection around Harry's house." Black seemed to calm down and regain some confidence. "Yea, but what about his school, the hospital, the dentist, a new friend's house, the local theatre, a restaurant…you get the idea. They would only need to wait around until he's outside the protections."

Black looks turned thoughtful, "We better tell Dumbledore this and I'll owl Harry to warn him not to go anywhere far from the house itself until we know just how far the protection extends." 

He got up and stretched, "In the meantime, I feel the need for some exercise. What about a little work session of that…what do you call it?"

"Tae Kwon Doe. Good idea." She answered, smiling. She stood up and walked towards the door, filled with anticipation.

***

Dumbledore came after dinner, knocking politely on the door. They had been waiting for him, Black carefully going trough her scrapbook and she, working on her current contract; a black panther for a new soft drink ad. 

At the sound, she saved her file and got up to answer it. "Welcome, headmaster." He gave her a boyish smile that took his years away and filled her with so much warmth that she answered the smile with one of her own without thinking. Darn! That man had a way with people. Sylvia felt her carefully built aloofness melt like snow under the old man sparkling gaze. 

"I see that you had that talk with Sirius. Good. The less time we lose, the better." At her invitation, he sat down on the armchair near the fireplace with Black, perch on the sofa, in front of him, then she took a chair from the kitchen to sit down. She served him a cup of tea while he was greeting Black, asking about his health.

After a sip he started to explain, "Well, Sirius, your misadventure had some good and unexpected results. We were able to send the six Death eaters to the ministry where they were questioned under veritaserum. The First Minister had no choice but to accept the truth of Voldemort's return after the six men recounted the same story one after the other in front of many witnesses. They also told the ministry how Wormtail, A.K.A Peter Pettigrew, explained to them how to find you in your animagus form. I'm sorry to say your secret is no longer…well, secret. On the other hand, the revelation that Pettigrew was still alive gave quite a shock to everyone, especially Fudge. Since I was present, I took upon myself to point out to the good minister that it meant you could not have killed him. They questioned the Death eaters carefully about Pettigrew, and discovered he was the one who had blast the street and murdered all those muggles. The Death eaters seemed very amused by the fact that an auror was sent to prison in Peter's place. As a result of the questioning, you have been granted an unconditional pardon, the press notification will be released tomorrow. Congratulation, you are now a free man!" Dumbledore took some papers from his robe and handed them to Black who took them in trembling hands. He looked at them with unbelieving eyes and tried to talk. " I…you…thanks…" Dumbledore chuckle and dismissed Black's attempt to thank him, "Don't mention it, tweaking minister Fudge nose was my great pleasure. Beside, I didn't really did anything, you should thank Mrs. Shaw, instead. After all, she's the one who helped capture the Death eaters."

Sylvia was fighting the tears that were threatening to overcome her. Taking a deep breath, she was able to muttered, "I had no idea what I was doing, I'm glad I did something right for a change." Trying to prevent things from getting too mushy, Sylvia made an effort at changing the subject. "Look, sir, we have found something that Mr. Black thought you should know about." Dumbledore looked curiously at her and she started to tell him about Timothy and the messages from the Death eaters she had found, skirting around the subject of her abuse as much as she could. She told him how Tim had turned the whole thing against her, the fact of Harry's name in one message and her reasoning about Black's godson danger of discovery. 

Dumbledore didn't look very surprised by it all. "I read muggle newspaper as much as I can, so I knew about the message printed in the press to ask for information about the Death eaters organization. I had no idea there were other messages or that Harry's name had been brought up, but it stand to reason. Voldemort is not stupid, nor are his followers, it would be very amusing and fitting in their point of view to use the very people they scorn to bring them information that can eventually lead to the destruction of muggles sympathizers and defenders." The old wizard got up and started to move around, looking everywhere absently, deep in thoughts. "We need to ask Harry to be very careful this summer though and to not wander outside the wards like he used to do. I'm afraid he will be very disappointed when I'll refuse him the permission of going to the Weasley's for the end of the summer." Dumbledore stopped in front of her laptop and seemed to studied it until Black's voice shook him out of his concentration. "Sorry sir, but, since I'm now free, can't I get Harry to live with me? I know he wants to. Hell, I know _I _want to!" Dumbledore shook his head in denial. "I'm sorry, Sirius. There are many reasons why you cannot do that. The Dursley's house is under a very powerful spell that protects it. It would take forever to duplicate it somewhere else and you don't even have a place to stay yet. Hogwarts is always less protected in the summer as you know, when many spells needs to be recast and the overall check of the shields. Moreover, I also still need you for that information gathering you were on your way to collect. Right now, Harry really needs to stay where he is and _you_ need to be on your way before next week." 

Black sighted in defeat but didn't say anything, The old man turned towards her, "What about you, Mrs. Shaw, Have you made up your mind about the memory spell?" Startled, Sylvia jumped to her feet like a little girl caught red handed in her mother's make up, "Uh, yes sir I have. I decided not to do it. I mean, I wish to remember everything, if its not too much problem for you of course…" Sylvia shut her mouth on her babbling, annoyed with herself for letting her nerves show. She added with a more steady voice, "If Mr. Black still need a place to crash between missions and don't have any other places to go to, he is welcome here."

"Good, that's settled." Dumbledore, then turned around to face her computer again and said, pointing his wand at her laptop, "_Loco corpore ex nihilo invocat."_. Sylvia shouted, "NO! Wait!!!" But suddenly, with a rushing sound, a huge black panther seemed to grow out of the table to stand in front of her, unmoving.

"Now, isn't that interesting!" said the old man, impassive in front of their gaping face.


	8. 3D magic

DISCLAIMER: This story is based on materials owned by the great J.K. Rowling. I do not make any money with it or anything...Only the Sylvia Shaw character is mine.

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Padfoot1979: Something you would never have thought of?!! Whoa! I'm proud to have surprised you. Hang on, that's the chapter have been aiming for, the reason for this story. I hope it'll come out as good as what's playing in my mind!

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NiteQueen: (huge smile) Hey! Glad you could get trough to chapter 7 after that *%/!&?" glitch. Wow! Windcall :1, Psychology teacher: 0. Better chance next time Teacher!!! 

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sirius the homicidal maniac: I'm glad you like the fact that Sirius is finally free, he really deserves it after all he's been trough. Thanks again for the enthusiasm. When I take a look at the number of reviews others on the site have...well, its reviews like yours that makes me go on and prevent me from trashing all my story files in disgust. *hug back*

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Stormcloud Empath: I do! It is my favorite form of entertainment!!!

**Thank you for your support, all of you guys.**

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Chapter 8- 3D Magic

Dumbledore walked slowly around the black panther standing in the middle of the sitting room, examining carefully the big 3d form of her unfinished product. Sylvia was reeling under the shock, her mind unable to grasp a coherent thought. She gasped when the old wizard's hand went trough the panther's head as if there was absolutely nothing there. "_Maybe it's just an illusion._" With that reasonable thought, her mind started working again, and behind it, anger came trough her bemusement. She walked to her computer, _"He better not have broken anything or muddled the files. If so, wizard or not, headmaster or not, he'll get a piece of my mind._" But the computer was not even slowed by the weird event. Her file with the panther was just the same. It was both on her screen and standing in the sitting room. She opened windows after windows to check everything. Suddenly she looked up at Black's exclamation and discovered that the internet browser she had just opened was exposed on the panther's right side. "_Oh my God! Its like a second huge immaterial screen. Everything that appears on the computer screen is duplicated on the...how to call it...mega screen?! And the 3d images are exactly that, totally three dimensional. Its...crazy! And amazing!_"

"Well. I was not sure it would work. I have been working on that ever since I heard of that computer business. Is that what do you do for a living, Mrs. Shaw?" asked Dumbledore, breaking the silence. "Uh, yea. I'm...I'm a 3D artist. It means that I can make digital objects, creatures or characters that are three dimensional." 

Black cut in, "Can you make it move?" Sylvia closed the browser and the panther's file, and opened her old Teddy family file which was the only one of her recent work that really moved. She hit the spacebar and the cute little baby teddy bear ran awkwardly on his little legs in the middle of her sitting area and jumped in his mother's arms. Incredible! Everything was life size! She froze the image and went to take a closer look.

With pixels that big and able to see everything up close, Sylvia start finding problems and imperfect parts almost immediately. "_Well, it was made in low polygons, especially done small and fast for the web, not for a big screen._" She touched the image of the father bear with her hand and encountered no resistance. Then, she moved forward and put her head inside it. There! She could see the bone structure, the envelopes, everything...and of course she could see right through the skin since you put texture on the outside, nobody is suppose to take a peek of the inside anyway. She saw Dumbledore approach as he put his head inside to take a good look. Then he went completely in and called, "Sirius, what do you see of me, outside?" "Only part of your hat, sir." Sylvia took her head back to see for herself. "So, if I understand this correctly, one inside the image can see everything around trough the skin, but someone outside would only see the image as if solid. Is that right Mrs. Shaw?" Dumbledore's voice came to her perfectly clear from the big papa bear, not even distorted or muffled. "Yea, well it was never really intended for this sort of thing, but yea, basically you can see everything while no one can see you, only the image your standing in." 

The headmaster came out, "What about spells, do you think they would go trough it?" Sylvia laugh, "That's not my area of expertise, but I guess its only logical to think that it would...unless your standing in the way." She added wryly. He nodded, "Indeed. Well, there's nothing like trying out a theory." He pointed his wand in the direction of the mama bear with her baby in her arms, his gesture making Black jump out of harms way hurriedly, and said, "Accio pen!" And her pen, which was on the kitchen table behind the three images, went sizzling through the air, disappeared for a second in the mama bear head, then came out from an eye socket and flew directly to the old man outstretched hand. Sylvia jumped about two feet in the air, even forewarned, she was not sure she could ever get used to the offhand ways these people performed the impossible.

Black summarized the experience with an eager look on his face and intensity in his eyes, "So. We can hex others without being seen and slip away from the image if they try to curse it back. We can send any wizard, hidden in an innocuous form to spy on or catch Death eaters and they'll never know what hit them. We can finally turn the table on them and play the same hit and run game they are so fond of... I volunteer for any mission!" Sylvia cleared her throat, "Hum, I think your jumping ahead a little fast here. The images can move only through directions I have implanted beforehand. There is no way it can be move... live. It takes weeks to get a movement right. The muscles and the bones have to move in synch and distort the skin at just the right places, the rest of the body have to follow flawlessly..." She made a gesture with her hand, "You know, there's dozens of details to check out. You can't just slip into an image like you do a car and go wherever you want with it. Besides, the image is link to the computer, we don't know if it still works separated by a hundred, or even a just few dozens feet from each other." She stopped, thinking how to give them an example. "Okay, lets pretend that it works, so I give you an image of...say, a bear. I make it very simple, just a walk cycle in a loop so that it does nothing but walk in a straight line. What if you want to change direction? You would have to be in contact with me and tell me so that I can stop it, turn the bear in a block on the computer and then start the cycle again. Same if you want to stop. Then, there is the fact that a bear standing in the bushes, doing nothing is pretty remarkable, there would be a need for complex actions like eating or scratching or...whatever bear do. Even then, if they have dogs or any animals that can sniff, they would still be able to pick your human scent, whatever image your in, you can't fool that." 

"Yes, we can. Severus, our Potion professor, can bottle any scent." Dumbledore scratched his long nose pensively, "As for the bear standing in the bushes...you might not need complex actions if you just transform from an image of a bear to an image of a three, or a bush or even a rock. We can put simple shield charms to prevent insects or small animal to step through the image, giving it away. As long as nobody sees the actual change..." Sylvia nodded, suddenly elated "Yes! That would work." The headmaster continued, "I saw in your image, the bones and muscles. I wonder, I wonder... if there might not be a way to link that to the human nervous system, making the image controllable...as you said, live, by the person inside. Making them ONE." Sylvia felt stunned, " You...you can do THAT?!!!" she exclaimed, her eyes round. "Maybe, maybe." was the noncommittal answer. "_A perfect camouflage. The intelligence service and the military would kill a thousand times for something like that_." Then, Black's voice cut through her amazement, " Wouldn't it mean that a curse that hits the image would affect the wizard inside as well? I thought the idea was to get at them while staying hidden and impervious to what they send our way." Dumbledore blinked, then smiled ruefully, "Your right, of course. I'm afraid the possibilities has just overwhelm my good sense. Thank you Sirius." Sylvia, also brought back to earth by Black's wry voice added, "It would also mean cutting the image from the computer and still keeping it...real. No small feat. I'm not sure it's even possible." 

They felt silent, each looking for solutions that would make it work. Black was the first to make an attempt, "What if we put the computer controlling the image inside with the wizard. He would be able to make the direction changes himself." Sylvia snorted in answer, "It took me weeks just to learn the software and then months to become efficient in creating stuff. And I was already pretty knowledgeable about computers. For people who are not used to technology its about as possible as... me learning to do magic." He sighted, "All right, then we need someone in control outside...to who we can talk rapidly and silently." She shrugged, "Looks like it." Black shot a sidelong glance at Dumbledore and continued "As for that, uh, communication problem, I may have a solution. There's a spell my friends and I used back in school when we went in animagus form. Since animals don't talk and we needed to communicate, we...hum... fished that little piece of magic that links minds together. We couldn't read each others mind of course, otherwise we would have uncovered Peter weakness immediately. We had to send thoughts to each others. It was like talking out loud, only inside your head." Black seemed strangely uncomfortable under the headmaster's gaze who in turn looked like he was trying to suppress his mirth. His eyes dancing behind his spectacles he said, "I would be absolutely delighted to know exactly where, and how, you have found that particular charm. I don't remember it being part of the students curriculum, or even been part of the general knowledge for that matter." Black mumbled something about explaining it later. For a moment there he looked to Sylvia amused eyes exactly like a rebellious school boy. She remembered him saying he was in school with a gang of pranksters_. "Oh dear, they must have been quite an unmanageable group_." "Nevertheless," Dumbledore continued, "in this case it would probably work quite well." 

"What about the magic-technology incompatibility?" Sylvia interjected, "If something magical like that happens to the controller or to the image, would it disrupt the computer in any way?" Dumbledore shook his head, "The calling charm I did earlier did nothing of the sort. The extrapolating original spell I did was intended for the image alone, I did not tamper, nor would I dream of doing so, with the machine itself. As for the mind link on the controller, it takes a much higher amount of magical energies than that to start interfering with technology. I believe it would be quite feasible."

"All right, now what if the image can't get away from the computer more than a few feet? In a big enough one, the controller might be able to huddle inside with the wizard, but that might make it a little awkward, not to mention not the best of idea for the computer." 

"There is but one way to answer that. Try it." And the headmaster gestured to her laptop. "Oh! Right."

In a few minutes, Sylvia had closed the teddy bears file, opened a new blank one and created from the library of models the most basic of humanoid form; dubbed a dummy, it was nothing but a skeleton of a two legged figure, it was usually used for test like this one. A few minutes more she had created the basic walk cycle. Then on an impulse, she attached a camera to the head at eye level. That was what you did if you wanted the character point of view of the scene. The camera could be made invisible and she wanted to see if it would record what it sees even in the real world. Ready, she typed the keyboard shortcut to get the camera view and to her surprise her fireplace appeared on her screen. Experimentally, she rotate the dummy head from side to side, the camera view followed suit, showing her interior. 

Looking over her right shoulder, Dumbledore asked, "Is that what it sees?" "Yes, I've attached a camera to its head. I just thought of it, seems you don't even have to send a wizard with it to do the spying. We can probably find a way to record it too. Okay, lets see how far it can go." She punched the spacebar and looked at the dummy starting to walk on the computer screen in its grey virtual environment, while its extrapolated counterpart was doing the same in her living room, heading straight for the wall. It went through it without missing a step and on her laptop the window giving the camera view showed the forest outside after a brief moment of darkness. Fascinated, the three of them huddled behind the screen to watch the steady progression of the virtual creation. Sylvia rotated the head here and there, the camera showing them successively the clear darkening sky, the black covered earth with the weird dummy's feet walking rhythmically and the trees on each side. Glimpsing a portion of the lake, Black wondered, "Do you think it could go under water?" In answer, Sylvia stopped the dummy, rotate it in one piece towards the lake and let it go again. It walked straight trough trees and bushes to a steep small cliff... then past it, continuing to walk on thin air as if there was still solid ground underneath its feet. In shock, Sylvia stopped the dummy, seemingly floating over the lake and glowing slightly in the darkness. 

"Ooookay! It doesn't react to the environment." Taking a deep breath, she went on, "Of course, it really exist only in the computer where there is no change in the scenery. The extrapolation does not make any difference to that." She pointed at a window on the screen where the dummy was stopped in mid step, his feet firmly on the horizontal plane that acted as a representation of a 'floor'. She then took the computer mouse to move the dummy down under the plane until the camera showed her the lake's floor. There she released the dummy again to resume its walking. It went calmly, showing them dark forms passing in front of the camera. "Hum, we need some light." she muttered, choosing a spotlight on the toolbar and attaching it to the top of the camera. A big bright light suddenly flooded the waters. Sylvia attacked the controls to diminish the luminosity and dim the blinding light to a more bearable intensity. There. They could now see quite clearly the multicolor fish dancing in front of the camera. 

Darkness and silence was settling in inside the cabin, the only illumination provided by the laptop silver screen. The situation felt so totally strange and unreal to Sylvia, sitting in the twilight, here in her little cabin, with two wizard, steering a virtual spy through a lake as if it was completely normal. Two days ago she didn't even believed in magic. And here she was...life is really full of surprises, and excitement.

"Any idea how far it is?" murmured Black behind her, his breath on her neck. She shivered a bit at the feeling, he was so close to her. "No, there is no way to know. The software was never designed for that kind of stunt." She murmured back, turning her face towards him. She almost bumped her nose on his chin and looked up. On the way, she caught the sight of his full lips just a few centimeters from hers and suddenly, butterflies start having a rave in her stomach. "_Oh no! What is this man doing to me? This whole business is decidedly very bad for my self control._" Wrenching her eyes for Black's tempting features, she went back to the computer screen just as Dumbledore announced, " Look, I think it has reached the shore."

He was right, the lake's floor was slowly climbing. Sylvia grab the dummy on her screen and moved it up on the 'floor' again. She also killed the light so that nobody on the shore would come to see what was going on. Only then did she took a look at the camera view of where the dummy was. "What is that?" She wondered aloud as she studied the window where a huge black form was standing with illuminations here and there. "It looks like light coming out of windows. But its much to big to be a house and there's no hotel that important around the lake." The old man smile with no little pride, "Its Hogwarts, our school of witchcraft and wizardry." His eyes went small in the silver screen light, "Now we know how far it is. From the road, going around the lake, its a good 20 miles, but in a direct line, trough the lake, I would guess something like twelve or thirteen miles. Well, you better stop that thing before it goes on the grounds and scares everyone." "Eh? Oh yea!" She stopped the dummy, still staring at the image of this huge castle on her screen. "I don't understand. There's nothing that big around here. Where is it exactly?" Black chuckled, "You know it as those ruins you have been talking about, wanting to take a look at it but never actually getting around to go there. That's because there's some anti-muggles protection around it. Muggles can't see nothing but ruins, and if they, for some reasons, get close, they suddenly decide to go somewhere else, or remember something they need to do elsewhere. That virtual thing, not being a muggle, well, not being anything really, didn't activated those protections. While you do." 

She frowned, a little bit alarmed, "I am under a spell?" She felt him shook his head over her shoulder, some of his long hair whipping her cheek. "Not really. You were, for short periods of time, under the influence of spells put on Hogwarts. As soon as the compulsion works and your desire to go there disappears, the influence also stops. Don't worry, there's no harm in it." "So, I won't ever be able to go see it. Is all magical places close to muggles?" It was Dumbledore's time to smile, "No, not to a muggle accompanying a wizard. As long as you're with wizards or witches, you can visit most of our secret places." He straitened and pushed his spectacles back on his long nose, "Now, I think we better call it a night. We now know a spy could get pretty far undetected in an image and that we can arrange for a good, reliable and discreet way of communication. The best is to let it all sink, then come back to it our minds clear." Sylvia nodded and clicked on the button on her screen that would make any creation get back to its point of origin. The dummy reappeared in the sitting room. She saved the file in case they needed it again and closed the computer. The only illumination now was the half moon, shining through the window, putting strange shadows on everything, making the scene totally unreal and out of this world. It only added to the tension she felt in the air and that feeling she had of playing a role in a bad spy movie. 

Dumbledore went on, his voice low, moonlight dancing on his spectacles. "We need some images fit for spying of course, but also beast that could induce some fear. Our goal is not solely to get information, we also need to answer in kind to the psychological battle Voldemort is waging. He is actually trying to get allies to augment his numbers. We are doing all we can to prevent that and turn those possible alliances to our own benefit. Unfortunately, that might fail. In that case, I want to make him fear that we have find powerful allies of our own from other sources, unknown to him. If we could be able to create some creatures, a number of them, that we could arrange for one of his spy to 'discover', it might be enough for him to become both more shy of attacking us and more rash in his despair to win. The best would be to force him to attack in force before he is ready, and before he hurts us to much with his raids. If we wait until he is in full power mode, it will be to late to save our world. Fourteen years ago, we were lucky. This time, he wont repeat the same mistake." He looked at Sylvia in the eye, "Mrs. Shaw, I am aware this is not your fight and that you have problems of your own. But I am going to ask for your help. I won't lie to you, it could be dangerous for you to join us, but if you are willing to work for me I will pay you handsomely for your services. Will you help us?"

Dumbstruck, Sylvia gasped, "Don't ...don't you have anyone else at all that can do the same? Someone with more experience in your ways and less personal problems? Not that I don't want to help," she said hastily, "it's just that, with all the muggles you have in your community, there must be somebody...I mean, you barely know me. How can you trust me so fast with something that important! After all I'm still married to a guy who helps out your enemy! How can you be sure I won't turn my coat? Why choose me?" 

Still looking at her closely, Dumbledore nodded, "Yes, there are some who might be able to do it, maybe not as well, but they probably could. Only, they don't really feel the imminence of the danger or understand what Voldemort's return really means. Most of them have a young family and would be unenthusiastic about putting themselves in danger of any kind, not that I blame them there. Moreover, you already know about this and you know how to live dangerously. If things turn for the worse, you can disappear pretty quickly, you are ready for that. You can defend yourself and live on the run, they can't. You have proven you can work under pressure and you understand what we are fighting. You've seen the Death eaters at work, both in the forest and in your own husband. We can also keep it a secret, nobody in either the wizarding community or the muggle world, knows about you, where you live or what you do. Voldemort, for all the spies he throws in our path won't ever see it coming, And that is as much, if not more, important than your talent is. I, for one, believe and trust you. That is why we need you. You, and no one else." 

He stopped talking, letting her digest it all and make her decision. That was not easy. "_In other words, they need me because I'm convenient, because if I die or disappear, no one would get hurt by it, because I have screwed up so much that I'm used to it and don't have anything to lose anymore **and** because I'm alone and a stranger that nobody can link back to them. Great! Just what I needed, another emotional roller coaster that can get me killed. I guess I should be used to it by now._" She sighted. She might as well do it, better to die in a blaze of glory that no one will ever know about, live a great adventure than to die slowly, always scared, forever hiding and utterly alone. At least, she would be helping others, doing something positive. And who knows, she might even get out of it alive. Or better yet, die heroically, cutting her husband from his illegal income, save the world and get totally out of Tim's reach forever. 

"All right," she wondered, briefly, when exactly in her running she had became suicidal again, she thought she had left that behind her in that clinic. "I'll do it at one condition. I will need some of the money before the big showdown. If I have to run, I'll need cash to help with the 'far away' part of it. And I have to tell something to my boss, so that he doesn't send me more jobs I won't have time to work on." Dumbledore nodded his acceptance and said gently, "Thank you Mrs. Shaw." She gave him a lopsided smile, "If I have to work for you Headmaster, you might as well call me Sylvia." The old wizard beamed at her and repeated, "Thank you Sylvia, for everything. I will come back tomorrow with pictures of some rare magical beast that you could use as models." He turned to Black standing in a dark corner, near the window. "Don't forget to owl Harry, Sirius. And don't tell him anything about what we are doing here, the less people knows, the better. Oh! Maybe you should stop at Ollivander's tomorrow to get a new wand, I rather think you're entitled to one now. I will wait for your report on that intelligence, and ...congratulation again for your pardon." Then he disappeared with a 'pop', just like that, making her jump. Dazed, Sylvia kept looking at the spot where Dumbledore had been minutes before, trying to put some order to her thoughts, wondering if she had took the right decision. 

Black's rasp voice suddenly came to her in the darkness, almost a murmur. "Welcome to the unofficial wizard intelligence service...Sylvia. You better get used to it, there are much weirder and nastier things out there." Then his dark form turned to the window and opened it to let a owl get in.

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Sylvia woke the next morning to the strange sound of...wings?? What was going on? Her head felt full of fluff, the incredible events of the previous evening had made it difficult for her to find sleep. Annoyingly, the fact that Black was sleeping on the couch just outside her room made it even more difficult and she was definitely feeling the lack of sleep. Taking a peek out her window, looking for birds that could account for that flurry sound, she discovered that it was raining and that the whole forest was drowned in a ghostly kind of fog. Seeing no birds and still hearing the unnerving sound, she got up slowly, grab her nightgown, put her dressing gown over it and opened her door...only to discover a scene out of a dream. Black was sitting at the kitchen table surrounded by owls and papers of all kind and sizes, frantically writing with a quill on a parchment.

"What's up? What are those birds all doing here?" she asked sleepily. Black looked up from his writing, smiling almost shyly. "Sorry to have awaking you. Seems like the news of my freedom on the papers have pleased and horrified more people than I thought. I'm receiving hundreds of owl from all over the country, some congratulating me, others insulting me thoroughly. I have already got four howler that I had let explode outside." Sylvia decided she didn't want to know what a howler was. "What about your godson and his friends?" she leaned on the doorframe, unwilling to try and enter her kitchen turned aviary. "I have already answered them and some other friends as well. Don't worry," he added, seeing the dubious look she wore while scanning her surrounding, "I write back to the positive mail only and I never had that many friends. Your cabin will be back to normal in no time." That seemed pretty optimistic to her but she was too sleepy to argue the case. "Any old girlfriend who wants to rekindle the fire?" Now why has she asked that? She turned back to her room to hide her blushing cheeks, fishing clothes out of her closet. When she reappeared on the doorstep, Black just gave her a blank but penetrating gaze. "No, not yet anyway." Smiling thinly she said, "Well, I'm off for a shower, good writing." And she fled down the corridor to the bathroom.

When she came back to the kitchen, feeling much better and pretty hungry, only a few owls remained, perch on the back of the chairs. Black seemed pretty grumpy so she made herself breakfast without a word, putting a plate of food in front of him, which he grab and started to eat while continuing to write furiously. Looking at him attaching the letter to the owl leg she wondered if the birds were the wizards usual form of communication. What if the bird get lost in a storm or is killed in a accident or by another predator? That looked even less reliable then the post. "_Talking of communication, I have my own bit of mail to write to Max._" She sat down at the table, reaching for her laptop, opening her e-mail account. They sat like that for a while, in silence, both eating and writing with the sound of the heavy rain accompanying the scratching of the quill, the dry punch of the computer keys and the oddly comforting sounds of the birds quiet hooting. 

Once her mail had been written, breakfast consumed and the last owl departed, Black turned to her, "You were wondering yesterday if you would ever be able to see one of our magical place. Well, I need to go to London to get a new wand, would you like to come with me and see a wizarding shopping mart? Truth is, it will be easier if I'm not alone on my first official appearance. Dumbledore have sent me some Floo powder, so you can come with me. What do you say?"

Sylvia had no idea what to say. Why invite her when he had just got in touch with a number of long time friends? And why put in danger her new secret link to the wazarding world? Black was waiting for her answer, looking nervous. "London? It'll take us two days to get..." Black interrupted her. "Not with Floo powder, it will only take moments. And we won't go to any muggle place." She nibbled on her lower lip in uncertainty. To go out. Without fear of discovery. With a handsome man. That was way past merely tempting. "_Don't read anything into this, it is _**not**_ a date._" she scolded herself before taking a deep breath and taking the plunge. "I will still need to get a little bit in costume to protect what Dumbledore is doing here but apart from that...yes. I would be very happy to go with you and see how you weird people shop."

Black smile almost stop her heart as she saw for the first time the man he most have been years before, totally relaxed and charming, without a trace of shadow in his eyes.

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A/N: I hope that was not too weird or technical. I've been thinking of how 3d could be made to work with magic ever since I took my course. I await your review with dread and hope. W.


	9. Diagon Alley

DISCLAIMER: This story is based on materials owned by the great J.K. Rowling. I do not make any money with it or anything...Only the Sylvia Shaw character is mine.

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sirius the homicidal maniac: Your welcome! You know, your right, I think its time for Sylvia to meet Harry. I didn't anticipate to do it so soon, but now that I think about it, since they're going to London anyway…your right. Only not just right now on this chapter but thanks for the tip and for all your good words. Don't abandon me!! 

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Siriuslyinlove: Welcome to this story!! I'm glad you love it and don't worry, there's more to come. 

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Padfoot1979: Gee, thanks! You really learned things?! I'm actually impressed with myself!! 

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Nitequeen: Oh! God! (blush) Masterpiece indeed! Thanks for making ma laugh and don't worry for your grades, I've been there…you'll get trough it. It can't be worse than the grades I used to have in physics. 

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Stormcloud Empath: I'm glad you like it. Don't worry, I have all of it planned, its not going to be used anywhere near Hogwarts. Trust me.

A/N: Sorry for the delay guys but I have a wonderful news: I have found myself an amazing beta-reader who is also half teaching me so that I can understand the reasons for my numerous mistakes. I don't know how you all coped with the number of errors in the text, which was appalling to say the least, but thank you for sticking around. The chapters will be edited one at a time. Starting with this one 'error free' chapter, ready for your enjoyment…and my great, great relief. 

Thank you Aurias for a superb job.

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Chapter 9 - Diagon Alley

It was with some trepidation that Sylvia was standing in front of her fireplace, a big roaring _green_ fire in it. To protect Dumbledore's secret, she had decided on putting her flamboyant red wig in a simple ponytail, a mixture of her own clothes and Rowena's and to keep to her own personality. To be sure to ward off any link between both Rowena and her, she had chosen a name from her library of personas, along with the papers going with it. Today, she would be Caitlin Blackburn; the name seemed appropriate to her for some reasons.

Black approached with a little bag in his hands, he had already explained the procedure to her. Even though he had said it was a very simple way of travel, the number of recommendations he had given her kind of bellied that. She was pretty nervous, and he seemed to be bearing no better. He too had taken great care of his appearance, his hair was groomed, and his clothes, though black, were immaculate and fitted his muscular body perfectly. She knew he had gone to Hogwarts shortly to get some of his things and the result was quite impressive. 

"All right. Are you ready?" Seeing the nervous glance she send towards him, he added, "You can still stay here you know." 

She straightened her shoulders and shot back, "What? After all the preparation I went through? Don't be ridiculous." She grabbed some of the powder in the bag and after an imperceptible hesitation, stepped into the fire. It was amazing and it actually tickled! She took a deep breath, threw the handful of powder at her feet, and released her breath in a shout. "The Leaky Cauldron!"

The whole world went crazy, turning around her as if she was caught in a tornado. She kept her elbows tucked in as Black had told her, extending them again only when she felt herself slow down. She stumbled and almost fell to the floor as she was thrown out of a fireplace. She regained her balance and looked around her. Perplexed, she wondered if she was at the right place. Black, "_No, not Black, Sirius, you have to call him by his first name today. Don't forget, you're supposed to be an old muggle friend._" So, Sirius had told her she would arrive at a pub, The Leaky Cauldron. The place did look like a pub, but one about three centuries ago! Some people, dressed in various cloak and robes, were gaping at her with obvious distrust and surprise and a bald round man was coming towards her with a serious look on his face. Just as she was starting to silently pray Black to arrive soon, she heard a swooshing sound behind her and, turning, saw the focus of her prayer elegantly coming out of the fire. He smiled with relief when he spotted her there and came to stand at her side. He casually took her hand and crushing it in his, saluted the bald man jovially. "Hi Tom! It's been a while. How are you?" The man glared at him for a while, studying every inch of Black's features as if he could see things unseen to everyone but him. Her hand was reduced to mere pulp under the pressure Sirius was putting on it. She had a hard time keeping her smile and open-face to the world as if nothing wrong was happening. Everyone in the pub was waiting expectantly for Tom's reaction, visibly without this man approval, there was no way Black could get back his old respectability and be accepted. The tension in the room was nearing breaking point and Sylvia was wondering what would happen if the bald man were to reject Black. Would they have to fight their way out or would people settle to just shun them with contempt? She bit down on her tongue to prevent her from showing the pain on her face when the pressure on her hand just got stronger. She could feel his body tensing up at her side, preparing for the worst. "_Gosh! If we need to fight, I'm not sure I'll be able to use my hand._" 

Finally, Tom nodded, "Black. Welcome back." And that was that. The bartender turned around and went back to his counter. Sirius released her hand slightly and they both let go of the breath they didn't knew they were holding. Some of the people, but not all by a long shot, came forward to welcome Sirius Black back to their community and each time, he presented her gallantly as an old friend. When the last of the lot had gone back to his or her table, a thin, shabby man came out of the shadow where he had been studying the scene. "Hello Sirius." he said simply. 

At the sight of him, a lot of tension went out of Black and he smiled a real smile of joy. "Remus! Merlin, it's good to see you here." The two men embraced without shame, pounding on each other's back. 

"Congratulation, old friend!" Sylvia guessed that man was the same Remus Black had told her about in his story of his youth. The one they were suspicious of at the time. Turning back toward her, Black presented her to his friend, but not in the way she thought he would, "You remember Caitlin, of course?" he asked Remus casually, while plainly telling him with his eyes he would explain later. Without missing a beat, Remus turned to her too, beaming. 

"Caitlin! Lass, you look wonderful! I have a hard time recognizing you!" And he hugged her like a long lost sister. 

"Dear Remus! It's so good to see you again." 

"Well," said Sirius, "why don't we all go do some shopping?" 

The two men led her to a blank wall in the courtyard, which turned out to be a magical portal to an amazing place - Diagon Alley. Sylvia felt like a little girl going to a theme park for the first time. A meandering street, full of strange people and strange things was unraveling in front of her, the shops on each side was nothing she had ever seen and the bright colored clothing of the crowd put a festive counterpoint to the atmosphere. It was like entering Oz or Narnia, a place of wonder where normal behavior and laws were to be forgotten. In here, she could be herself, she was free and safe; she was finally without fear. Relief, joy and excitement was rolling inside her, warming places in her she did not even know were cold. Gripping the two men's hands, each grinning at the wonder in her face, she urged them, "Come on, I want to see everything!!" And the three of them plunged into the crowd, laughing.

The fist thing they did was to go to the wizard bank, ran by weird, very serious little buggers Black called goblins. She approached one nervously to change her muggle money into wizard one. The goblin looked back at her with piercing eyes and asked for her name. Sirius, behind her, whispered in her ear, "Give him your real name, he'll know it instantly if you're lying and you don't want to know what he'll do then!" 

Following his advice, she told the Goblin, in a low voice, her real name. A light of recognition went in the creature's eyes, "Ah! Yes. Professor Dumbledore had told us about your coming. He had opened an account and given you a vault for you with your first pay. Vault 1005 it is. Here is the key, don't ever lose it young woman. It's important. Understood? And don't worry, the headmaster had explained the situation, everything that concerns you is highly confidential." She nodded, dumbfounded and took the key. "Now, sign here. Good, you can make a withdrawal immediately if you want." She nodded again, too surprised to do anything else. An account and a vault here? Dumbledore was going to pay her in wizard money? She better checked the exchange rate; she didn't want to get fleeced! 

She gave her place to Black who stood in front of the Goblin almost defiantly. "Hi Visbik. You seem well." He greeted the little creature calmly. 

"Mr. Black. From order of the ministry, your vault is now completely accessible to you at your discretion. Here is your new key. You are here to make a withdrawal?" 

"Indeed." Black signed and put the key in a pocket, gesturing her to follow the Goblin that have materialized at their side on Visbik's order. They left the hall through one of the multiple arches opening in the walls, waving briefly at Remus who was waiting for them on the porch. The mad rush on a train cart to Black's vault was exhilarating and felt a lot like a strange roller coaster ride without the usual shrieks. Black went inside his vault but Sylvia made sure not to look inside. She didn't felt it would be very polite to gaze at the personal fortune of an ex-convict. Beside, she didn't want him to feel ashamed in front of her if his fortune was on the low side. During the ride getting them to her own vault, Black explained to her the different values of the wizard coins, showing her each one from his own purse which seemed to be pretty full. He told her how much she would possibly need for their outing and what to take with her. "Don't take gold, you won't need that." They finally stopped in front of her very own vault. The Goblin took the key from her, opened the huge metal door and retreated to the cart, letting her face a small heap of coins on the vault's floor. She took what Black had told her would be enough and going through it, searching for the right coins, she discovered she did not need to be scared of getting fleeced. Dumbledore seemed to take her work seriously enough to pay her well. She put a handful of coins in her purse near her small key and went back to join Sirius on the cart.

Once they were outside again, under the gray low sky, Sylvia asked with enthusiasm to the two friends, "Where first?" 

Sirius took a deep breath, "Ollivanders. For my wand." He started to walk purposely towards a small shop with a wand on a cushion lounging on the front window. 

Before going inside, he turned to her and Remus, "Why don't you two go have a chat at Fortescue's? You could reminisce all you want and Caitlin can tell you what she had been up to all these years." He gave her a gaze that visibly meant she could tell Remus everything and wanted her to do so. Making as if to kiss her on the cheek, he whispered in her ear, "He works for Dumbledore too. Trust him, he's my best friend. He needs to know." She nodded and kissed him back making it maybe a little longer than necessary in order to whisper back, "Right. Good luck." 

Remus guided her through the crowd to a little ice cream parlor, which she discovered, had none of the usual flavor. She chose a jelly bean ice cream cone while her companion got himself a special aurors sundae. They sat down at an empty table in a corner. "So, who are you, really?" asked Lupin, his eyes full of curiosity. She told him her real name, how she had met Sirius, both the dog and the man, and that she now worked for Dumbledore on a special project. Then, explained to him what Black had told her about his time in Hogwarts with his friends. "You seemed to have been quite a group. What was it like?" It was her turn to be curious. She had a hard time imagining Black as a carefree kid, he had always felt so tightly controlled and she wanted to know what he was like before. Remus was only happy to oblige, going back to memories of a wonderful time. 

He told her about an elaborate prank the marauders had achieved, consisting in fooling their runes teacher into drinking a foul potion that would, without his knowledge, transform him into a girl for an hour. He was in the midst of telling her the story when his gray hat suddenly turned black with glowing white letters saying, "Welcome back, Sirius Black." Stopped short by her gasp, Remus looked around him quickly, his hand going to his pocket. Seeing what was the matter, he smiled, then laughed with abandon. Following his gaze, Sylvia discovered the whole street, including passersby, was decorated with banners and balloons in black, white, red and gold proclaiming, 'Sirius Black: a hero is back!' or ' Long live Sirius Black' and even ' If it's not Black, then it's no good!'. She spotted the said hero at the head of the street, coming toward them while shooting confetti in the air around himself and onlookers with his long new wand. He was waving at people and smiling as if he was in some kind of parade and had a glowing gold badge on his chest advertising 'Beware, I'm back and I'm Sirius Black!' 

Some of the people around seemed horrified, afraid or irritated but some started to smile and even laugh at the man's antics. A few children waved back at him and were instantly rewarded with balloons with 'Welcome Sirius Black' written on them. A father scowled and tried to wave the balloons away but Sirius retaliated. He turned the man into a living advertising with a big sign on the front saying 'There is no going back to a world without Sirius Black' and another one on his back going 'Sirius Black is my man, now and forever'. Try as he might, the man could not get the signs off him and finally he shrugged and went on with his two boys laughing in tow. By then, the whole street was full of people laughing and applauding when a teenage witch waved her wand casually at a nearby crate which started regurgitating a wild spirited music. Everyone yelled his appreciation and Sirius, smiling at the witch, thanked the girl by decorating her cloak with a huge image of his smiling face complete with the now familiar welcoming announcement. Next, he waved his wand over the street to create a very large banner floating and announcing 'Sirius Black festival'. By that time, Remus was crying with laughter and managed to stay on his chair only by holding to the table with sheer will. Sylvia was in little better condition, her awe and wonder at the magic was the sole thing keeping her from collapsing completely into an endless fit of giggles. Sirius finally reached them, forever stopped by people congratulating him and slapping him on the back. He bowed formally to her and going on his knee in front of her and produced a little black box. Sylvia's laughter was suddenly stuck in her throat and people around came closer, curious as to what was going on. With a flourish, Black opened the box…and everyone howled with glee and laughter. In the box, on a bed of velvet, was laying a golden pin with ' Sirius Black is the most gorgeous men on earth' well in evidence on it.

***

The rest of the morning went in a flash, as music and multicolor balloons followed them in every shop they visited. And they went to every single one of them. Sirius and Remus had a wonderful time in Gambol & Japes wizarding Joke Shop and they literally had to drag Silvia out of Flourish and Blotts, the magical bookshop. She had time however to buy a book: Difference and similarities between Wizards and Muggles, by Shadie Longtongue. The impromptu festival and the easy and funny way Sirius treated everyone seemed to have done what it was supposed to do. Wizards and witches now smiled and talked with him as if he had just came from a long trip oversea instead of twelve years in hell with two on the run. She could see him visibly relaxes as friends, ancient colleagues and old comrades talked with him of legendary pranks or common relations. As time passed, she was happy to stay on the side to observe, as Sirius was drag to the tick of things, surrounded by his kind. Remus came to her with a drink and a smile, visibly overjoyed with the way things were going. "Well, what do you think about the wizard world so far?"

She smiled back at him and took the glass. "It's wonderful. I understand why it's so important for Sirius to get fully accepted back. He has such an original way of doing it too!" she added, wryly, touching the pin on her collar. At some point during the day, Remus had changed the phrase on the pin, which now read, 'Sirius Black is the worst showoff on earth'. Black had still to read it, since he had not been close enough to her in the last hour in order to do so. 

Remus smiled and nodded, "It was the best way, really. People had to remember the boy he was before Azkaban and the fastest way to do that was to remind them of what a prankster he used to be. I just passed some time in the crowd to hear what's been said and nobody seem to think of his years in prison. The remarks goes more in the direction of ' He'll never change' or even, ' Will he ever grow up?'" Remus grinned, "It's like the last fourteen years never happened."

Sylvia studied her new friend carefully, "So, it's all just a very clever public relation stunt. How long have you two been organizing this?"

Remus shrugged, "Since he got out of prison. We used to owl each other a lot while he was in exile. We had time to think about it and make plans." 

"I hope my presence didn't disrupt any of your plans," she said with a hint of sarcasm, "it would be a shame, it was so very well thought up." She fervently hoped Sirius had not invited her just to patch a loophole in their scheming, or maybe he thought at the last minute that she would be just the right touch to show he was harmless. Nobody thinks the worst of a man who appears in enemy territory with an innocent friend. The more she thought about it, the more it made sense, and the more her stomach seemed to drop. She just hated the thought she was being used.

Remus shot her a strange glance before saying slowly, "Actually, I'm grateful to you. The one thing I was afraid of was to have him all alone to face everyone in The Leaky Cauldron. I couldn't be with him, people don't trust me, and it would have been a very bad policy for him to reappear with a werewolf at his side. I'm very glad he found someone he could trust to stand by him when he needed it the most."

His words quieted her fears and thinking about it, came to the conclusion that it didn't really matter why she was here, she was having a great time and for now that was all that mattered. Remus had explained to her how he had been bitten by a werewolf when he was just a kid and how his friends had found a way to change into animagus in order to stay with him when he transformed. Of them all, only Sirius was left. She hoped he didn't feel she had taken a place that should have been his at his best friend's side. She put a hand on his shoulder, "You know, Sirius didn't really relax until you appeared. For my part, I'm rather glad there's two of us to help settle his nerves. After all, you _did_ save my hand from amputation when he finally released it to hug you." 

He laughed and everything was all right again, in fact she felt that everything was wonderful. She had not only one but two new friends, she was surrounded by laughter, magic and music and she was safe from Tim. She had not been so happy in a long time. She looked around her. They were back near the ice cream parlor and a small dancing area had been cleared near the magical, musical crate. She saw Sirius untangle himself from the group of wizards he had been talking to and went toward them. Without thinking, she adjusted her clothes and checked her wig, blushing when she caught Remus looking at her, grinning. She had no time to answer him as Sirius was already in front of her, capturing her attention entirely. 

"Come on," he said, taking her hand and pulling her, "I want to dance." He refused to acknowledge her sputtering denial as he dragged her to the dancing area. She had not danced since her college years and had always felt, even then, uneasy to be in the spotlight, unprotected from prying gazes. She had hated the ritual assessment of her dubious charms, almost always followed by dismissal that seemed to come with the dancing. But here it seemed to be different. No one was looking her up and down, no one was cataloguing her by her clothes or the people she was with. She started to relax, let the music transport her and stop looking at her feet. Sirius smiled at her and took her hand back in his as he started to show her the steps of a complex dance. She was fast laughing hard and having the time of her life, twirling around in his arms. Then the music changed to a new, slow tune and Sylvia started to go back to Remus' side as the floor was emptying of everyone but couples. Sirius grabbed her by the elbow and turned her around to get her back into his arms. "Oh no! You won't get out off this easily. You have to pay for making fun of me." He said, gesturing at her pin with his chin, his eyes twinkling with mischief. He kept her close to him as they started to dance and placed her arms around his neck. She blushed and kept her eyes firmly set on his left shoulder, not daring to look up at him, scared at what he would be able to see in her gaze. Her heart was going at a hundred miles a minute and her whole body was way too hot.

He sighed and got her even closer as he put his cheek on hers, whispering in her ear, "What about a good dinner in the pub? Then," he hesitated for a moment, "then, I thought that since we are already in London we might as well go see Harry. He can't get out of that wretched neighborhood and I know he would want to celebrate my freedom with me. And I kind of miss him." 

She nodded on his shoulder, straining to control the shaking of her voice, "It's okay, I understand. I'm sure he will be overjoyed to see you and Remus. I can handle going back to the cabin." 

He leaned back to look at her with a frown. "Actually, by 'us', I meant you and me. I really would like you to meet him." 

That startled her enough to make her look at him in the eye. "Go in muggle London? Are you nuts? It's too dangerous, I'm not in full disguise and you can still be attacked by those crazies even in your dog form. Everyone knows that you're here, you advertised it enough. It would be easy to guess your desire to see your Godson and lay a trap."

Sirius opened his mouth to answer her when a loud voice was suddenly heard over the music, diverting their attention, "Isn't that a disgusting and degrading exhibition; a murderer and a muggle snuggling indecently in front of everyone."

A tall, elegant wizard was standing at the edge of the dancing floor, looking around with contempt plain in his aristocratic features. With a flick of his wand and a snort of disgust, he 'killed' the music by the simple mean of destroying the crate into splinters, making the crowd run away from it, protecting their heads with their arms.

"_I guess that means the festivities are officially over._" Sylvia thought with unease. The man did not look particularly friendly and Sirius at her side was tensing all over again.

Black took a step forward, "Lucius. How nice of you to drop by to welcome me back. Want a balloon?" He took his wand out slowly and clearly as if to advertise the fact that he had one. At the sight of it, the man's eye grew wide then small with speculation. He did not acknowledge the black balloon that popped and started to float near his head. 

"You move fast, Black, I have to give you that. You and I know just what you are though, don't we. Nothing but a very, very lucky little piece of scum. I don't know how you pulled it off, but as far as I'm concerned, you are more than ever a danger to our community. Put a toe out of line and I'll have you back into Azkaban faster than you can say Merlin. If I were you, I'd watched my back," he shifted his cold eyes to her, "and I'd keep to a better company, a skinny little muggle rat won't help you get back into the fold." With a sniff, he turned back and pushed the balloon with an annoyed gesture, then took his wand and destroyed the balloon, but not before everyone around had time to read what was written behind it, 'kick me, for I'm an ugly git with too much hair."

Sirius smiled with some satisfaction and called after him, "Same to you old boy, same to you." 

***

They were back at The Leaky Cauldron to eat as the party had finished abruptly after that Lucius guy had departed, people darting small fearful gazes at Sirius once more. The confrontation had put back into everyone's mind the reality of Black past deed. Sylvia hoped it had not completely destroyed the ready acceptance of Black's return that was achieved today. Dinner was very serious though as Remus and Sirius talked at length about The Death Eaters and Lucius Malfoy, which it seemed, amounted to the same thing. Sylvia could not say that she was very surprised by that, but she kept silent, listening to the two men with both her ears. She had learned during her time on the run that the best way to understand what was going on, was to make yourself invisible someplace where you can hear a lot. Eventually, if you get enough information, you can analyze it and get the picture. It was like putting puzzle pieces together. Right now, she was learning a lot about the wizard world and how it was ruled. It seemed to her that wizards were no better than muggles when it came to politics and making intelligent decisions. The two men were absolutely disgusted by the way one Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic, was handling things concerning the return of Voldemort and the first series of Death Eaters' raids. 

Eventually, they grew silent, deep into dark thoughts. After a while, Remus shook himself and went back to lighter topics. "What about your new wand? You didn't even show it to us yet."

Sirius, startled out of his thoughts, smacked his forehead. "The wand! I really need to tell you something about it." He looked suddenly excited like a little boy with a new toy. "You remember when Ron and Harry went to Hogwarts at the start of their second year flying Arthur Weasley's car and crashed into the Whomping Willow?" 

Remus grimaced and nodded, "I rather doubt anyone could forget that. What of it?"

"Well, the tree was damaged and Madam. Pomfrey and Professor Sprout were able to heal much of it. But a small branch was snapped, there was no way it could be put back, so Dumbledore sent it to Ollivander to see if he could do something about it."

Remus gasped, "You're not saying…your wand…"

Sirius grinned evilly, "Yep, that's exactly what I'm saying." He took his wand out and deposed it on the table. "My new wand is made out of thirteen inches of the Whomping Willow with three hair of three different unicorns as a core. Very powerful and perfect to throw curses."

Remus gaped at the grinning face of his friend before starting to grin too. Before long, the two were laughing furiously. Remus finally wiped his eyes, "Merlin! I almost feel sorry for the poor Death Eaters who'll want to stop you." He got to his feet and sighed, "Unfortunately, I have to go. Thank you for a very interesting day. Take care of yourself, all right?" The two men clasped hand warmly and Remus turned to her. "Caitlin, it was a pleasure seeing you," to her delight and surprise, he embraced her and kissed her on the cheeks then smiled at her, "I'm sure we'll meet again." 

She kissed him back impulsively, "I certainly hope we will." 

A small cough turned their attention back to a scowling Sirius, which only made the two new friends' grins get wider with delight. 


	10. Coming and going

DISCLAIMER: This story is based on materials owned by the great J.K. Rowling. I do not make any money with it or anything...Only the Sylvia Shaw character is mine.

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Stormcloud empath: Thanks, I rather liked the part with the Womping Willow stuff myself. Glad you agree with me!

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Sirius the homicidal maniac: I wasn't too sure about writing a bit of funny scenes, comedy is sooo much more difficult to pull off. I'm really, really glad it made you laugh. I'm experimenting a little here to see what I can write and what stomps me, so you can expect a little bit of everything ahead in the story. I don't know yet when the end is gonna happen, but I can tell you I'm not close. Thank you for all your support, it means the world. 

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Nitequeen: Phew! You don't know how glad I was to read your review. I tried to keep the pranks as much in the marauders tone as I could, but only another avid HP fans could confirm that it was in character. I really couldn't keep Remus away, his friendship with Sirius is such a wonderful thing. I just can't imagine one without the other. 

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angel-wings76: Unfortunately, Remus is not going to see Harry with Sylvia and Sirius. Things happens there that are important for Sylvia, having Remus there would have only confuse the matter. Err…Sylvia and Remus like each other and will become great friends, but not more than that…sorry. It is wonderful to know my story and my name are in your fav. Authors and stories list!!! Thanks!

A/N: I have conveyed your appreciation to Aurias, my beta-reader, he is trilled and flattered to know all his hard work is noticed. He thanks you all for your good words. Chapter one and two have also been edited and are now error free!

I can't believe I'm already writing the tenth chapter. Here it goes…

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10- Coming and going

"Right, ready to go?" asked Sirius, looking back at her. They had just witnessed Remus jump into the fire in The Leaky Cauldron, heading back home. Naturally, Sylvia assumed they were going to do the same, but a slight suspicion in the back of her head made her ask carefully.

"Go where exactly?" You could never be too careful when dealing with Sirius Black she had discovered. He had a knack for doing the wrong things for the right reasons and to make people do exactly what he wanted, even if they'd rather not do it at first. She was getting weary of his easy charm and rather circumvoluted logic. There was just so much more to him than met the eye. Complex, irrational, very stubborn and mischievous were just a few weak words for trying to decipher his personality. Not to mention devastatingly handsome. This was one man you could never put under a straight label. Anyone who did so was in for a big surprise at one time or another. 

He was eyeing her with what looked suspiciously like amusement and determination. "To see Harry, of course." He sat back, ready for the deluge of protestation that he visibly thought to be inevitable. He blinked with surprise when nothing came.

"_Good, if I can't keep up with him, at least I can tip him off balance once in a while._" Sylvia thought with some pleasure. "Explain to me like I'm a three years old, how we are suppose to do that without ending up captured or dead."

"By doing the unexpected, of course." He raised his eyebrows to her, relishing the little squabble.

"You mean, get out of here through the door, get a cab and get out on Harry's front yard like any normal person? You think that's unexpected?"

"No, I mean, get outside, find a cab then use a portkey to Harry's street."

"I'm almost afraid to ask this but…what's a portkey? And what about those wards Dumbledore mentioned?"

He grinned and got a tissue from one of his pockets, opening it to expose a small ten pence inside it. "A portkey is an unremarkable object that muggles are used to see and would never give a second thought to. They are keyed to a specific place, hence the name. This one will transport us instantly to Privet Drive even through some of the protections. We can't get directly into the house, those barriers are too strong, but we can get close enough. Dumbledore has a number of these portkeys ready for emergency. He takes Harry's protection very seriously. He gave me one when I went to Hogwarts this morning, he knew that I would want to visit my Godson. We have to both touch it at the same time in order for it to work for the two of us."

"Neat. Then why not use it here and now? Why go outside at all?" She could already experience the uncomfortable feeling of being out in the open, vulnerable to a chance look that could blow up her cover. 

"Because I can't risk the chance of anyone knowing about the portkeys. If they ever hear of it, Death Eaters would do anything to get one. Dumbledore took an awful chance letting this one out, I don't intend to take his trust in me lightly."

"I can understand that. What about the return trip? Is there a portkey for my cabin? I definitely don't think I would like that."

"Don't worry. There is a witch who's been living in Harry's neighborhood since he was a baby. To protect him in case the wards were not enough. We will go to her place and get back to your cabin by way of floo powder. See, no problem. It is pretty close to nightfall right now, and by the time we get to Privet Drive, it'll be dark. You're already in disguise and I have changed quite a lot since my picture of a running escapee was out in the muggle world. Nobody is going to look twice at a couple going to visit relatives. Death Eaters can't penetrate even the outer wards so they won't be there. I thought of everything. Come on! There's no risk! And even if there was some, isn't meeting Harry worth a little bit of a cold sweat? A little bit of excitement in your routine?" He was making puppy eyes at her and that really nearly worked too. But she had not survived until now by making hasty decision based on emotions.

She retorted with high eyebrows of her own. "I wouldn't know. I never met him. And frankly, I would not take such risk even if he was Sean Connery in disguise." The disappointment in his face was so acute that instant guilt shot through her. 

"_Damn the man, was anyone ever able to say no to him!_" She raised her hands towards heaven in disgust and surrendered. "Oooh! All right! Whatever." She put her index under his nose, "If anything, anything at all happens, I will hold you directly responsible and will ask for retribution. And safe heaven in the wizarding world until I can disappear again under another disguise. Do you hear me?"

He held up his hand in a gesture of peace, "Yea, I hear you loud and clear. Of course I will take care of you, I would never forgive myself if something happened to you because of me. You have a deal."

She grumbled, "You better believe it." But it was mostly for show, she knew. Mollified by his promise, she got up to her feet and sighed. "What are you waiting around for then?"

Grinning, he took her hand and proceeded to the door, stopping just long enough at the counter to thank Tom and throw him a few coins. Then they were out in the twilight under the hard neon lights of the muggle world, Sirius calling a cab to a stop as if he had always done such things. 

"_I'm daft. I can't believe I'm actually doing this. Well, I suppose I'm not the first nor the last girl to do real stupid things for a man's sake._" Despite everything, a shiver of excitement went through her at the idea of daring to do this right under Tim's nose. "_As long as the excitement doesn't turn to horror, this might just be fun after all._" Not that she would ever tell Sirius that of course.

***

It worked amazingly well. She had given the cab driver the name of a restaurant she knew downtown. A few streets after their departure, while the cab was stopped at a red light, the driver's attention diverted by a hooker on a street corner, they had touch the coin at the same time and disappeared. Leaving behind money on the seat that covered the whole cab run. 

They reappeared near a wall on the corner of Privet Drive. Sylvia now knew that she disliked traveling by portkey just as much as doing so by floo powder. "Have wizards ever invented a pleasant mean of travel?" she asked, feeling out of sort, her stomach trying to protest vigorously to such an unfair treatment. 

"If it wasn't such a long way, I would borrow Harry's broom and get back north flying on his firebolt. That's the best way to travel. I had a flying motorcycle back in my youth, but that was before a law was passed against meddling with muggles' stuff." Sylvia could easily hear the longing in Black's voice. It sounded like he rather missed his favorite mean of transportation.

"Brooms?! Flying?! Right. I'll stick to floo powder, thank you very much." 

Black laughed and took her hand again. "Come on. It's not far, this way." Together, they went down the street, keeping to the shadows. After a couple of blocks, Sirius stopped dead in his track and pushed the two of them flat on the wall behind them. Sylvia looked around his massive shoulders to see what was the matter. She saw it instantly and started swearing inventively under her breath. There was a police car parked just on the other side of the street on the next corner.

"Now what, genius?" she asked Black, both scared and angry with herself for taking such foolish risks in the first place.

"They might have seen us already, it would look too suspicious to turn around or try to sneak up past them. Better to take the bold solution."

"What?!" Her exclamation was muffled by Sirius' arm getting around her shoulders, taking her into the open with him sticking to her side. He was going to make them walk straight past the police car and up number four's front door like they were just making a casual stroll in the dark!

Sylvia kept just enough of her wits not to struggle against Sirius' hard grip and released the long wig hair from the ponytail. He had put himself between her and the cops so that his bulk would protect her from their gazes. She kept her face averted, facing the buildings as if looking for a house number. With the darkness help and her long hair hiding part of her features, even if they took pictures of her, they might have difficulties relating her to Sylvia Shaw. She was praying they would anyway. Nevertheless, she was having a hard time keeping her panic under control. She felt exposed as if every eye on the street were pointed in her direction, seeing right through her disguise. She hated the feeling, and right now she also hated Sirius Black for putting her in this position. She knew they could not rush either, casual strollers would never do that. But the agonizing slow pace was making her crazy. She was already drenched in a cold sweat and had started to tremble. Her jaw and fist were so tightly clenched they hurt. She was trying very hard to keep herself from doing something rash, like bolting and running to find a place to hide. Her whole body was shrieking at her to do exactly that and she had to talk to herself pretty fast, keeping a firm control on her instincts to prevent it. 

Finally, the door to number four came to focus in front of her and Sirius left her side just long enough in order to hit the doorbell. The door took an incredible long time to open but eventually a large beefy-faced man came into view, opening the door just enough to see who was there.

"Open it up Dursley, I'm Harry's Godfather and I'm here to see him. Whether you like it or not." Sirius put a foot in the crack of the door, pushing it slowly open with his muscular leg to get the point across. Sylvia was a little bit shocked by such a rude behavior but she was too preoccupied trying to keep herself calm to wonder about it much.

Reluctantly…and terrified it seemed, the man let them in and closed the door behind them. Panting heavily with her back to the door, Sylvia felt the full force of a panic attack slam suddenly into her as she had no more reasons to keep herself in check. She didn't had an attack in weeks, but it felt like the stress of the last few days was getting the better of her with a vengeance. She hardly heard Sirius ask for alcohol but the answer was drowning in the rushing in her head. "_This one's going to be hell._" was all she had time to think before she was lost to the terror, a red veil of fire engulfing her mind. She tried to scream from the pain and the fear, but had not enough air to do so. She felt herself go down, pain exploding in her chest as she struggled for breath. She was saved only by her laboring breathing as the lack of oxygen finally caused her to faint.

She woke up with a start in the dark of an unknown bedroom. Before she had time to panic again, Sirius voice cut through the semi darkness, soothingly. "Don't worry, you're in Harry's bedroom. You're safe." He put a glass in her hand. Habit made her raise the glass to her lips, taking a sip…and almost gagged in the process. "It's a restorative potion, drink it. I know it's horrible but you need it." Feeling too beat up to argue, she pinched her nose against the foul smell and gulped the awful stuff in one swallow. Fighting the heaving of her stomach, she leaned down again.

"How…" She licked her dry lips and tried again, "How long was I out?"

"About fifteen minutes." She tried to guess what he was thinking, but his voice was devoid of any traces of emotion and she could not see his face. She felt herself go red with embarrassment_. "God! I fainted in front of his godson and his family. He must be disgusted with me._"

"Hum, I'm sorry about that. I…I'm all right now, you can go see Harry. After all that's why you're here. I'll just rest here for a while." She felt horrible and upset to have let total strangers, not to mention Sirius and his godson, see her in such a vulnerable state. "_What a great partner I am! Freaking out at the first sight of the slightest danger. I disgust even myself!_"

"Has that ever happened while you were alone?"

"Huh? What? You mean passing out?" she was startled by the change of topic.

"Yea. I mean exactly that." 

She shrugged, feeling her strength coming back and her tortured muscle relaxing, thanks, she was sure to the restorative potion. "Of course, but it doesn't always happens, it depends on the force of the attack. I usually have more sense than to do it in front of people though." She hated this talk about her weakness, trying to make light of it as if it was nothing.

"How could you be so irresponsible as to live alone! You could hurt yourself pretty badly!" Sylvia looked at him bewildered, he actually sounded _angry_. 

She tried to answer slowly, feeling her temper rise up to match his. "I'm usually already down on the floor for a good while before I pass out. I was lucky tonight, it happened so fast. Look, you have every right to be angry with me. I freaked out, I failed you but still that's not a reason…"

He cut through her anger, "That has absolutely nothing to do with it!!" he switched on the bed table lamp to have a good look at her. "You have no idea, do you?"

She swallowed at the seriousness in his gaze. "What are you talking about?"

He looked at her for a while before getting up to pace. "I'm not the right one to tell you this, but since there is no one else…" He faced her, "You went into seizures after you passed out, bad ones too. I thought you knew."

A lump of cold dropped to her stomach and all colors deserted her face. Oh! No! The doctor at the clinic had hinted it might happen if the attack kept coming strong. Her nerves, already coiled pretty tight, were just not up to such regular shocks. The doc had told her to go somewhere calm and relaxing to unwind her nerves and get some psychological help. She had access to none of the two. She could not get off country, the airports just have too much security and a fake passport would cost her more than she had at her disposal. That was one reason she was so glad for Dumbledore's offer of a job. As for psychological help…there was just too much risk involved, she could not trust a stranger. Unfortunately, the seizures were dangerous. She had to find a doctor who would be able to give her a drug to forestall the problem until she could discover a more permanent solution.

"What are you going to do?" he asked, sitting on the bed and taking her hand in his.

"Find a doctor. It's risky but I don't have a choice."

"Yes you do. Aurors sometimes develop the same condition. Madam. Pomfrey could probably give you a potion for the seizures, if not for the panic attacks. It would taste worst than what you just took, but it would give you some time."

"But…I'm a muggle. I mean, is it legal for her to treat me? And it's not because it works on wizards that it means it'll work on me."

"The biological difference between us exist only in some very stupid wizards mind. There was never any evidence to corroborate such a belief. There is nothing in the blood or the mind of wizards that make them different from muggles. Madam. Pomfrey might need to adjust the dosage, but it would work. She is also not partial to those who think muggles are failed attempt of nature. She will treat anyone who needs help. That is why she works at Hogwarts and not at St.Mungos. Some mediwizards there would never think of treating you."

"Oh. Well, I guess there's nothing wrong in asking her anyway. That would make things way easier. Thanks Sirius." That's when she remembered she had never called him that before. She had thought of him as Sirius all day long and had talked about him with Remus and used his first name, but saying it in front of him was not the same and made her blush furiously.

She was saved from Black's intense gaze by an adolescent coming in the room. "Sirius? Is she okay?" The boy was lean and small with a very serious face, a mop of black hair and the most intense pair of green eyes she had ever seen, half hidden behind glasses.

"She's all right for now, Harry. Come in, I want you to meet her."

Sylvia got herself to her feet and extended her hand to the young man who was carefully studying her, "Hi Harry. Your Godfather told me a little about you. He is very proud of you." He took her hand and shook it with a strong grip and a direct gaze, "You have an advantage over me then, I have no idea who you are. Sirius never mentioned you prior to his last couple of owls, and he didn't even write down your name. It seems I have to thank you though, for saving his life and making it possible for him to clear his name." 

Sylvia looked at the boy more closely. There was something amiss here. The kid was too quiet, too mature and too restrained. It was as if there was a wall between him and the world, only his eyes seemed to give away part of his interior world. What she saw in that gaze reminded her of Sirius, there were shadows in there and lines of pain etched around his eyes with dark circle underneath. On his forehead, a red raw scar cut like a lightning bolt which looked as if it was a day old at the very least, not years old. "_Ouch! Another one who is much more than meet the eyes. God! He is too young for that much pain._" The contrast between his lean frame, which make you think him younger than his years, and the much older look in his eyes was startling. It was like having in front of you two different persons in one body. "_How do you talk to a boy like that. Do you address the shy teenager or the tired and scared young adult?_" She settled on the latest for the moment.

"It's all right. I'm glad I did it, even though there are moments when I wished otherwise." She gave him a down-side grin, "Like when I make a spectacular entrance by fainting in front of complete strangers!! I hope I didn't spook your err…family too much down there."

He and Sirius exchanged an amused glance and the boy chuckled, "Oh yes you did! They were hysteric, Sirius had to stun them to prevent them from running to the police car outside. He revived them once you settled down enough to sleep though. He put a silence spell on the house, magically locked all the doors and windows and transfigured all the phones in the house into flowerpots. It was great!" His face grew serious again, "Sirius also told me that it was the police presence that gave you the panic attack in the first place. Can I ask you why?" 

"Can I sit down first?" Sylvia asked, trying to keep the pleading out of her voice. Her legs were starting to feel the strain already, a muscle in her left thigh was uncontrollably having fits of painful spasm. 

A slight blush faintly colored the boy features a moment before he gestured her to sit on the bed. "Of course. I'm sorry, I should've thought about it sooner. Sit on the bed, please. Sirius can take the chair and I'll sit on my trunk."

After everyone was settled, Sylvia shot a glance at Sirius. "Is it safe to talk here?"

He nodded, "I have put another silencing spell around the three of us, they can't hear us." 

"All right then." She took a deep breath and started her tale for the third time in the last couple of days. "My real name is Sylvia Shaw, but for the benefit of your relatives downstairs you better call me Caitlin." She stopped to see Harry's reaction to that, the teenager looked stunned for a second then exclaimed, "So, _you_ are the one they're looking for!" 

That was not what she expected! "What? What do you mean?"

Harry got up from the trunk and walked to his desk to take something, then handed it to her. "The police have been giving this picture to everyone and have questioned Mrs. Figs, the old woman down the street, about you twice that I know of. I suppose that girl in the photo is you?" 

It was a picture taken at the time of her honeymoon in Hawaii. "Yes."

Sirius interjected, "They asked Arabella Figs about her? Why would they…" He suddenly turned pale, "Damn! I can't believe I was that stupid!!"

Sirius' and Sylvia's gaze locked together with the same thought, which Sylvia uttered aloud slowly, aghast at the implication. "She was mentioned in one of the Death Eaters message. They are trailing everyone referred in those just in case I try to contact them to investigate. After all, it is one of the few ways I could try to prove my innocence. They're laying a trap." 

"Yes. Arabella was part of the group, loyal to Dumbledore, that fought Voldemort fourteen years ago. It's only logical the Death Eaters want to know where she is and what she is up to now." He turned to Harry, "Has the police seemed interested by you in any way?"

Harry shook his head emphatically. "No, they barely look at me at all. And never asked me anything."

Sirius sighed with obvious relief. "Good, the wards are still working then. Still, The Death Eaters must find it curious that a witch has chosen to live in a very straight muggle neighborhood. It's very possible they will guess she is here to protect something. Or someone." He took a small object wrapped in a length of fabric from one of his pocket and gave it to his Godson. "It's a portkey to Dumbledore's office, keep it with you at all times and use it as soon as you have the feeling things are turning dangerous. Promise?"

"Of course. But I really would like to know what's going on here. What are those Death Eaters messages and what does Mrs. Shaw has to do with anything at all?" 

Sylvia shook herself from the stupor she had fell in at the news of the trap lay for her. "To make a long story short, my husband is a high ranking Interpol officer and has framed me for a crime he himself have committed. He has been selling information to the Death Eaters for a couple of years now. One of the things they wanted to know was your location in the muggle world Harry, and possibly your capture. When I discovered the messages, I contacted the police but Tim, my husband, turned the facts against me instead. So I ran. That is why I'm in hiding and why both Sirius and Dumbledore have asked you to stay low. I have thought many times to investigate the people mentioned in the messages, but I never got around to it. I had not enough money and no real experience or skill in the work of an investigator. Beside, my first priority was simply to survive. I'm glad now I never did it." 

Harry thought about it for a while. "So, that means you're not really Sirius' fiancée, then?"

Sylvia opened big round eyes at Sirius who suddenly turned crimson red. "Fiancée!!?… Did I miss the proposal?!"

Sirius' growl came to her through Harry's laughter, "Well, I had to say something to the Dursleys. That's the first thing that popped into my mind. Will you stop that?!" he asked Harry, though Sylvia could see he was happy to see his Godson laugh, even if it was at his expense. 

"Actually," Sylvia told Harry once he had calmed down, "Sirius was my dog for a few weeks. When he transformed into a man because of that Death Eaters' attack, I was introduced to Dumbledore who eventually offered me a job. That's about all there is."

"Yea. Sure." Harry's eyes were dancing with mirth and disbelief. 

To change the subject, which was starting to make her uncomfortable, Sylvia asked the obvious question. "So, how am I suppose to get back home now?"

Sirius shrugged and took the opportunity for the change of topic just as readily, "I guess we don't have a choice but to get back outside so that the police could see us go. I'm sorry Sylvia, but they'll come to look if we just never visibly get out of here." She blanched a little but nodded. "Then I think we could use that cloak and broom of yours Harry. I rather doubt the police is closely examining Arabella's roof, so it should be safe to fly on the Firebolt, hidden by the cloak, to one of her second floor window at the back of the house. Once there, Sylvia can use the Floo network and I can Apparate back here to give you your stuff back and get out in the same way. What do you think?"

"Of course! You can Apparate now that you're free! It's perfect." Harry stood up again, opened his trunk and start rummaging in it. "My broom is locked in the cupboard under the stairs, though."

"I'll get it. I think I'll also steal some tea from the Dursleys, we can all use a cup." Sirius said, standing up.

"Hum. Should I go with you to present myself to the Dursleys? You know, thank them for their hospitality and all…"

"Don't bother. They don't want to have anything to do with wizards or people befriending wizards. Keep your energy for worthy things." And he walked purposely out of the room while Harry kept searching the trunk for the mysterious cloak. 

When Sirius came back with a broom in one hand and a tray with hot tea and three cups floating behind him, Harry had found his cloak and had demonstrated to Sylvia its awesome property. Then, he started to entertain her with stories of all the fun he and his two best friends had at school with the invisibility cloak. Sirius listened with one ear, making a comment once or twice, while he was writing a note for Arabella Figs to explain to her their problem and tell her to wait for them in an hour's time. He sent the note with Hedwig, Harry's owl, then joined them to sip tea and tell stories of his own time at Hogwarts. Sylvia was fascinated by this glimpse into another world, but what really touched her was all the small ways Sirius and Harry used to show their affection to each other. Both were visibly not used to express their emotions and had found their own ways to do so without feeling awkward. Sirius tried to make Harry smile or laugh as much as possible by telling the more outrageous stories and Harry knowing that, made sure to exclaim and scuff at all the appropriate places and times. No mention was made of the war, the deaths, the crazy politics of the ministry or the future. Hedwig came back with Mrs. Figs' answer giving her agreement on the plan and urging them to be careful. The hour passed rapidly in a relaxed atmosphere and soon it was time to say goodbye.

With the broom invisible under the cloak, Sirius led them down the stairs and towards the entrance. Sylvia looked around her, curious. She heard the sound of running as a door at the other end of the house slam shut. The beefy man, Sylvia had seen previously was standing in the living room archway, glaring at them as if they were something horrible, fouling his house. 

Tentatively, Sylvia smiled at him, "Hi. I'm Caitlin. Sorry for the raucous I caused earlier. I feel much better now. Thank you for your hospitality."

"Just stay away from this house." The man barked by way of answer.

"Told you it was a waste of time and saliva." Sirius said to her with a wink. He turned to the man, who Silvia surmised was Harry's uncle.

"As promised, I will return this place back to 'normal'. But you better keep your word Dursley, or I'll be back with a few friends to throw a party here that will advertise to the whole city that you entertain real strange people. With a few flicks of my wand, I can ruin your reputation as a conservative, 'normal', respectable muggle family. If I hear one word of complaint from Harry, I will come and do just that. Do we understand each other?"

Red with anger and humiliation, the man nodded. Sirius raised his wand and muttered a few words. The plant near the man suddenly changed into a telephone and Harry's uncle grabbed it to check the tone, grunt and said, "You have five minutes." then disappeared from view to another part of the house.

Harry made a face at his godfather, "I will pray that you and Dumbledore can soon find a safe place for me that is as far away from here as possible. Now that your name has been cleared, it is more difficult than ever for me to bear living here. Especially now that I can't really go out. And Sirius…" The young man hesitated, "Yes?" Sirius prompted his godson, "the nightmares…I have a new one almost every two nights now. Here is what I recall of the last one. For Dumbledore. I didn't send it this morning because there's not much and it happened only between the Death Eaters."

Sirius took the paper and smiled with sadness at the teenager. "I'm so sorry Harry. As soon as it's safe to do so, I'll come and get you, fast as lightning. For now, the important thing is to keep you out of harm's way and to try and do something to end those nightmares of yours at the source." 

Harry sighed and passed a hand through his hair, "I know Sirius, I know. I just wish…" the hundreds things Harry wished for went unsaid, but Sylvia, trying to stay invisible in a corner during this very private moment, heard them all in the long silence that followed, tears of sympathy standing in her eyes.

"Yea," Sirius finally murmured, "me too." 

***

The return trip was uneventful. Sylvia was too tired and too full of the events of the day to care much about the two policemen snoring in the car. They stuck to the plan anyway, just to be sure. After a brief introduction to Mrs. Figs, Sylvia took a handful of Floo powder with relief. She was at the end of her energy and wanted nothing more than to see her cabin and her bed.

The trip by Floo powder was just as unpleasant as the first time was, but brought her back home just fine. Wanting to wait for Sirius, she positioned herself on the sofa but was unable to stay awake for more than a couple of minutes. 

She woke in her bed, late the next day, naked. A note on the bedside table said only: 

__

Gone on a job for D. Don't forget to contact Madam P. There is an owl stationed at the cabin for your need. Just call out its name ' Ziggy' out loud outside and it'll come to you. 

I know we had a deal, I'll make it up to you for yesterday's disaster. I promise.

I'll contact you if I can and should be back in a few weeks.

Good luck with your work. Take care. 

S.

TBC


	11. Work in progress

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DISCLAIMER: I do not own any characters in this story apart from Sylvia and Timothy. All the rest is the product of the genius imagination of J.K. Rowling. 

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Kat-Tak: Thanks!

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Sirius the homicidal maniac: Thank you for pointing the mistake to me. Now, what's life without a little mystery? I promise you will learn how that happened…eventually.

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Sothis star: Wow! What a review! Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

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Padfoot1979: Glad you liked the end! You will be pleased by this chapter, for Remus is there while Sirius is gone!!! What will happen? Scroll down to find out! 

A/N: I'm totally sorry about this horrible delay. Work, a sick daughter and more work are the reasons. Not very good excuses of course, for this abominable, inexcusable, atrocious wait, but…there you are, life is cruel.

The other reason is: this freaking chapter is killing me!!! It is more or less the middle of the story, not much happens in it, and I could just not live with that. I wanted Sylvia to find a way to help Sirius disguise his animagus form. But nothing really worked logically and the thing just got out of hand in a weird, demented way. The problem with this was that it opened yet ANOTHER plot line and would make the story just that much longer. I wanted to stop doing that and start making everything comes together. I guess something in my sub-conscious didn't want that to happen. Anyway, as I reread the mad thing for the xth time, trying to find a way to rewrite the whole da...(sorry!) part for the xth time, I found myself unexpectedly warming to it. It does have interesting possibilities… I very nearly deleted the whole _Solidaris_ conversation, but decided against it. I'm still not sure if it really adds to the story… So instead of wavering endlessly and before you give up on me completely, I decided to put it out for a vote. If you think it is worth keeping, let me know. If not, I'll delete the thing from the chapter and re-post it. It is out of my hands now! (I swear it is not a ploy to get more reviews!!! Uh! Wait! You can leave one anyway!)

Last but not least, I have a piece of wonderful news. The Sirius Black Fan Club web site has asked for my permission to put _In love and War_ on their site, thanks to the recommendation of **Sothis Star**. Thank you my friend a million times.

Well, enough of rambling, here you go.

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11- Work in progress

Sylvia went through her day after her outing in London in a state of daze. She could scarcely believe the whole thing, it was as if she dreamt it somehow. Only Sirius' note and the testimony of her calendar told her that yesterday had indeed happened. She went through the motion of cleaning the cabin and eating without really caring, her attention completely captured by her memories of the day before and its subsequent implication. Those seizures especially needed to be taking care of, but the thought of submitting to Madam Pomfrey's piercing eyes while explaining the origin of the attacks…that didn't sit too well with her. She guiltily decided to wait before sending a note to the Hogwarts nurse, maybe tomorrow the world would have righted itself and her mind would be in less of a shamble. Then, there was the mystery of exactly how she had undressed and got into bed without remembering any of it. She might have done it half asleep or even in a fit of sleepwalking. Or maybe Black had done it. That was the thought she had tried to avoid all morning. She really didn't need the image of his strong hands on her naked flesh going around in her mind. She needed to function without having uncontrollable hot waves shooting through her at inopportune moments. Really! So, naturally her thoughts turned to her next worry; the fact that Tim was STILL looking actively for her, going so far as lay a trap. They were not just waiting for her to feel safe and pop up somewhere. Even after more than two years, Interpol was using several teams of agents and probably a lot of money in their search. How much longer was this going to last? Will she have to hide for the rest of her life? The liberty and the pleasure of going out and meeting new people without fear or suspicion that she had experienced in Diagon Alley was calling to her. It made her realize that she could not live like a recluse. She needed to have people around, to have friends whom she could trust, to smile and laugh freely without being afraid all the time. 

In frustration, Sylvia threw her glass of water into the sink where it shattered in several large pieces. Her flash of irritation dissolved quickly but the childish gesture made her feel better. Her thoughts were going nowhere. There was nothing she could do about any of it right now. She might as well use the nervous energy in a positive way. She turned resolutely to the door and went outside, putting her wandering mind into the attentiveness of an upcoming bout of rough training.

She got up the next day with an even worse feeling of dissatisfaction. She wanted to do _something, _something to solve some of her problems. She could not just sit here and wait for Tim to get her or for the convulsions to do his work for him. With a sigh, she resolved to sit down and try to write a quick note for Madam Pomfrey. She made several attempts before she was able to get something that didn't look like the rambling of a madwoman or the whining of a child. She reread it again, satisfied that it was concise, straight to the point, giving her symptoms in a scientific and detached manners, asking for medical expertise without the shameful pleading. She sent the note with a small owl that appeared at her call. Its plumage was so close to the colors of the surrounding forest that she didn't see it until it was straight under her nose, and lost it pretty fast once it was back in the air. 

Now, she could only wait and see. Unfortunately, her actual nervousness wasn't really up to that. She nearly jumped out of her skin when a knock at her door startled her out of her pacing. 

Ready to bolt at the first sign of trouble, she called with her best Rowena voice, "Who is it?" 

"It's me, Remus. I'm alone."

"Remus?!" Relieved and curious, she opened the door with enthusiasm. "What in heaven are you doing here? Come in!"

She invited him to sit down at the kitchen table and busied herself preparing some tea. "I'm here at Dumbledore's request." Remus told her, "He could not come himself to give you these as he had promised." He took several large books from a bag and put them on the table. 

One title read _Great Beasts of Britain_. Sylvia took the heavy book and flipped it open. Pictures of weird creatures came to life in front of her eyes. She gasped and almost dropped the volume. A _dragon_ in one picture was _moving_ around and even disappeared from the edge of the picture once. Another picture was showing a kind of strange huge bipedal character that reminded her of Frankenstein. It was purposely eating something that suspiciously looked like raw meat.

She looked up to see Remus' amused eyes. "This is amazing. Are these really pictures? Or is it some kind of videos?" At her new friend's blank look, she continued, "Never mind, this is going to be perfect to show me how they move, so I should be able to mimic the movements of the muscles under the skin without too much problems. It's great." She eagerly checked the other books, some visibly were photo albums of some kind for there were also people working with the creatures or posing in front of them. Another one was a list of all the magical animals that have ever existed, which were extinct, what was the natural habitat, feeding habits, mating, anatomic description, drawings…it looked like a weird biology manual. She was fascinated but she forced herself to come back to reality and asked Remus with as much professional demeanor as she could muster under the circumstances, "So, which creature does the headmaster wants me to do first?" 

The thin man took a sip of tea before answering." I'm also here in order to help you choose. And to practice this new spell Dumbledore has invented. I'm not sure I understand what he meant by 'allowing to extract a virtual image from a computer.' He also wants me to try different kind of shield charms for …whatever it is the spell does extract. I'm afraid I may have to force myself on your hospitality for a few days." 

Sylvia nodded, "That's a good idea. We can do tests as we go along. I did wonder how I was going to do that without a wizard." She smiled warmly at her friend, "I'm really glad you're here, Remus. You can stay as long as you want. I was just thinking that after my experience in Diagon Alley, it was very difficult to get used at being alone again." 

He winked, "Believe me, I know exactly how you feel. Humans are not made for solitary confinement…especially after meeting someone like Sirius Black!!"

Of course she blushed like a schoolgirl, she tried to hide it as much as possible by jumping on her feet and hurrying to the counter to get the sugar, all the way followed by Remus' gentle chuckle. She was feeling much better already.

***

The next week went smoothly, Remus being a considerate and unobtrusive guest. They talked at length while working, explaining to each other the complexity of what they were trying to do. Remus, it seemed, was just as curious about the muggle world as she was of the wizarding one. He showed her what to look for when a wizard or witch was about to cast a spell. She studied the barely noticeable unconscious flexing of the shoulder muscle that gave it away, until she knew she would spot it immediately. Remus also taught her to follow the wizard's eye to the incipient target, giving her a half-second to get out of the way. She knew that if she was to live through the battle Dumbledore was preparing, she'd better get ready to understand all she could about charms and hexes, learning what they could do, how they were cast and especially how to avoid being hit by one. Just having a wizard in her cabin was an incredible experience, she discovered she could never see enough of magic. Remus was so matter-of-fact about using it in his everyday life that it looked totally effortless and natural. There were times when Sylvia wondered why she could not do it, she felt like she almost was lacking something. No wonder some wizards thought muggles were almost sub-human. It was also a pleasure to watch him warming to her, telling her stories of the marauders' pranks, even telling her about the difficulties about the life of a werewolf. She was shocked to learn that close-mindedness was not solely a muggle privilege. She heard in his voice the familiar knowledge of an endless loneliness, of dreams that would never be and of staunch loyalty to those who accepted him as he was. She could barely imagined how he could accept it all without turning bitter. 

Madam Pomfrey came to see her during midweek. She asked her only a few tactful questions and scowled at the state of her frayed nerves but didn't say anything. She gave her a little barrel of potion from which to drink everyday to prevent seizures, and other potions to help her recover from a panic attack. She could not do better than that in the state she was in. She told her the same thing the doctor had said; that only a calm and worry-free lifestyle coupled with a good therapy could repair the damage. Although the longer she waited, the harder it would be to uproot the problem at the source, her body and psyche was getting used to it and making the reaction a natural one, part of her defense system. Madam Pomfrey seemed to think it might be too late and that Sylvia would probably never completely recover. It was likely, she said, that Sylvia would be submitted to attacks all her life. She finished by giving her a book on relaxation and imagining techniques that could help her keep her nerves under relative control. The visit didn't help to raise Sylvia's spirit much, and that evening, she was anything but a gracious host to her friend. Remus seemed to understand and retreated to the sofa with a muggle novel she had lent him, letting her cope with the reality call she had just received by drinking to oblivion. She had never hated Tim so much in her life. 

Thus the week went, turning the two into close friends as the challenge of the work at hand, the similarities of their difficult social life and Sirius' friendship brought them together a little more everyday. It was not before the next Sunday morning that Sylvia received a note from their friend. The little bird that was carrying it just swooped in from the open window (Remus had charmed it to stop anything from entering but owls, air and warmth) and perched itself on the headboard, hooting and picking gently at her ear to wake her up. She finally did and took the parchment while the bird fluffed its feathers with an air of satisfaction and took off. She looked at the folded paper with some trepidation, what would Sirius write to her? Was he all right? Taking her courage in both hands, she opened it.

The note was brief and to the point in true Black fashion. 

__

Everything's in order here.

Heard from D. that R. is with you. Would you please stay with him for the full moon period? That's very hard on him. He hates going through it alone. Hope you two get along, R. is not an easy roommate. Tell him to behave.

It is safe to send me an owl back for the next two days, after that, better not risk it. Should be back in about a couple of weeks.

Give my regards to R**.**, take care.

S. 

Well, she pitied the poor girl who might one day dream of receiving an overflowing love letter from Sirius Black; his style was definitely not up to it. She could not believe she had prayed to receive some news, being worried sick about him. She would never forget the sight of Skif caught in mid-air by that dark shaft of light. The Death Eaters know about his animagus form. They could still find and kill him. 

She decided to answer right away since it was still pretty early. It took her a while for she kept writing too much or putting things that could be interpreted in a romantic fashion. Finally, she decided to do the same thing he did: Say nothing.

__

Dear S.

Don't worry about R, I will take care of him. He's a wonderful man and I feel honored that he thinks of me as a friend. He had told me everything and had already decided to stay here for a few weeks. 

Madam P. came to see me; everything is under control on that particular problem. Our work is going well, R. is a tremendous help and a very respectful guest. 

Be careful out there,

S. 

There, that should do it. There was nothing about missing or thinking about him. It was in the same style, didn't say too much in case someone was able to intercept it and still covered mostly everything. 

She got dressed when she heard Remus moving around and went to tell him about the note and the answer that he could send back with the owl.

***

A few days later, they started the morning work session by the usual extraction spell. Remus was getting pretty good at it and was currently examining ways to adapt shields charms to the conformation of the image. This was difficult, since the charm did not feel the image in any way, and every time the image changed or moved, the charm had to be recast to conform to the new form. Remus was tempting to create a charm mixed with a part of the extraction spell so that both would be linked and react instantly to one another. Today, he seemed to feel like he would be successful and cast his mixture of spells with confidence. He kept an attentive eye on the forming of the image, the shimmering of the shield telling them if it was correctly attached to the 'skin's' image. 

Sylvia made the little fairy on her screen move its head and wings, to test the adherence of the shield. Sylvia smiled as always when she saw the graceful and beautiful form she had created. Remus had said Fairies were very rare now as only a few groups have survived modern times. Pollution of air and water were deadly to them as their magic was so much linked to both. It was amazing really, how well muggle fairy tales were able to convey the reality of the small creatures. When she had stumbled upon the pictures of a group flying around, she was surprised and delighted. However, their powers were renowned to be extremely diverse and efficient. Remus thought that Voldemort might get anxious if he were led to believe Dumbledore had achieved to get the help of fairies. So, the two friends chose to do a fairy first. Sylvia was glad they did, working on this reminded her of her childhood, a time when she believed that there was a place in the world for beauty for the simple sake of beauty, truth, love and wonder. 

She came back to the present and looked up to see if her friend was satisfied with the result of the test. Remus had been getting grayer since the last couple of days. The full moon was closing in and he visibly was reacting to it. He tired more easily and was barely eating. Sylvia kept a close but respectful eye on him, waiting until he asked for her help. Right now, he was frowning a little for the shields on the wings were not up to speed with their beating. But overall, Sylvia could see that it was working quite well. The fairy would feel completely solid to anyone who didn't know better. She scanned her work with a critical eye. Not bad, not bad at all. Only the texture was left to do and that was the hardest and longest part of the process. The texture was what made an object seem realistic or not. Blotch that and even with a smooth moving character, no one will be interested in it. Appearance is everything. The wings were what worried her the most. According to the picture, they were supposed to be full of lights and shadows, as if there were tiny mirrors attached to them. They were also half-transparent and glimmered with an inner light that made the colors change from moment to moment. That was going to be tricky. 

She started to go through her texture catalogue on CDs, choosing the ones that were the closer to what she needed, then she opened them in a photo editor software and mixed some of them together, trying to find the right combination. After a good two hours of work, she had something that was close, but was still not exactly what she wanted. She sighed with fatigue, slumping back on her chair. Remus was there in an instant.

"What's wrong?"

"That." She gestured towards the screen. "I'm trying to get the right texture for the wings. What I've got looks more like transparent silk than an opalescent delicate membrane. I just don't know what could make it work. The problem with those magical picture of yours is that I can't scan them, so I can't zoom them up close to get more details."

"You know, I might be able to help you here. Wands are not just used for combative or protective magic, we use them for other things too." He smiled.

"Oh yea! Like what?" 

"Like painting." 

Sylvia felt her mouth hang open at those simple words. "_Painting?!_"

Remus nodded with pleasure at seeing her so surprised. "Yes. Our artists use their wands the same way yours use brushes, only without paint. I wonder if I could not work with what you have here and try to improve it a little bit by painting over the shield. Put it on the wings and I'll see what I can do."

"Err…okay." 

Fascinated, she watched her friend circle around the big virtual fairy and added with little touch of his wand here and there, depth, shadows and little splash of colors that mixed with the rest for wonderful results. 

Looking at him work, Sylvia asked, "Why didn't Sirius used that to change his animagus form's color? He is very recognizable as a black dog. He would be safer as a golden, or white or even a mismatched colored stray."

"Of course, but he can't do that to himself as a dog. And each time he'd change again, he would be back to his initial black."

"Oh. So, there is no way to disguise him, is there?"

"Well, he can be dyed for short periods of time, but not for long and morphing will get him back to black. Any disguise to his human form won't transfer to the dog, and since there is no way yet to link one of your virtual image with a body, I have to say, no. There isn't much he can do." 

"What is an animagus form exactly anyway?"

"Well, one's animagus form depends strongly on one's inner nature, or more precisely what one feels is his or her nature. Sirius has always seen himself as loyal and playful but also as a loner and someone who feels better in the shadows than under the spotlight. He has always had problems with self-confidence, feeling his friends are so much better than him. James was a natural leader, Sirius was perfect as the loyal second. And that is why the image of a black stray dog fits him so well." Remus looked under the fairy's left wing. "Could you bend the image to the right a little bit? I have problems reaching the bottom of the wings." Sylvia obediently did so. 

They worked in companionable silence for the rest of the day when, suddenly, after dinner, Remus got very pale and clutched his left arm. Through the kitchen window, Sylvia could see that a big, fat full moon was just appearing over the trees. Sylvia got up and went to him, "Let me help, Remus. You need to lie down."

"No. My…potion…in my bag…fast." Sylvia left him and ran to his satchel where she found a vial which she brought to him as fast as she could. He took a long sip of it and sighed. "I should be…safe now. Please…leave me alone." His face contorted in pain and he fell to the floor before she could catch him. His skin started to ripple and distort, his clothes ripping. She watched with fascinated horror until he roared, his changing voice full of unbearable agony. "GO AWAY!!!" At that point, she fled.

She waited in the sitting room, crying at the hurt she could hear in the few screams that evaded the kitchen. Visibly the Wolfbane potion could make him safe to others for the duration of his transformation but it did nothing for the pain he had to suffer. After what seemed like hours, she heard the unmistakable sound of paws hitting the wood paneled floor and she tensed, ready for a werewolf monster straight out of the movies. Instead, she saw a gray wolf, bigger than the norm, but still very visibly an animal. Only the eyes showed that a human being was trapped inside. They were just the same, tired and hurt but somehow smiling. He licked her hand where a few tears had fallen, just in the same way Skif/Sirius used to do. That made her smile. "_They really are like brothers._" 

***

For the few next days, Remus slept on the rug most of the time, not eating and going outside only when absolutely necessary. He seemed to feel ashamed every time he did go, and always came back creeping inside like a kid hoping not to get caught after a prank gone awry, with his head and tail low between his legs. Sylvia always made a point of looking elsewhere when he came back this way, acutely aware of her friend's discomfort and pride. He seemed so self-conscious and chagrined to be stuck in this form, that she dared not touch him to pat him or to look him in the eye. She ached for him, yet there was nothing she could do to help. She worked on the rest of the textures, which were easier to create than the wings, and set out to copy, and slightly change each of the little creatures, so that she could give the impression of a swarm of distinctive fairies. She would next need to make a little programming, to make sure each of the little creatures fly around one another on different random paths while never bumping into each other. 

Remus came back to himself one morning while she was still sleeping. She came out of her room to find him haggard, feverish and skinnier than ever, but human again. She helped him from the floor and into her bed over his meek protest. From his bag, she took the bottled potions he mentioned would help him recover, and helped him drink from them before he fell into an exhausted slumber. Sylvia looked at him and let the tears once again fall for this spent, hurting man who would never know peace, however hard he tried for it, for as long as he would live. 

Remus recovering was slow but steady. After a few days, he was up and about, starting to worry about Sirius' lack of communication. From his last note, they gathered he was supposed to come back in four of five days, but the absence of any news was disgruntling. They both tried to keep their worry at bay by working and not talking about it. Nevertheless, the worry was there, unspoken but gnawing at them. 

A couple of days later, Sylvia started on her programming while Remus put the finishing touch with his wand on the little fairies swirling around in her living room. The day was a stiflingly hot July summer day, and Sylvia had let the door opened for the few breaths of fresh air that ventured into the cabin from the lake. They were both grumpy from the suffocating weather and the tension from their worrying. They had vented it with a few snappish comments on each other's work as they both made mistakes. Things were not going well. Sylvia finally stopped trying with a few well-chosen oaths.

"This is not working. I have enough. You can continue if you want to but for my part, I quit for today!" 

"Oh! I'm soooo glad you said that. I can barely see the difference between blue and green anymore. I just hate working in that smothering, unmoving air." Remus sighed and stood up, a hand on his aching back. "Maybe we should choose the next creature to make. What about that big muscled elf you goggled at last week?"

She snorted, "Why not, it looked silly enough. Maybe we could put Sirius' face on it." She was definitely crossed with Sirius for putting them through all that fretting.

Remus smiled at the suggestion, then his smile grew larger. "Sirius, in a roman-like toga, dozens of jewels and _paint_ on his face?" He started to chuckle, then laugh outright at the image his active imagination depicted him.

The description was just too much for Sylvia. She doubled over in a sputtering fit of nervous laughter, liberating all the tension of the last couple of weeks. "What about… a wreath…on his head?"

At that, Remus laughed even louder, out of control; he leaned on Sylvia for support. She put an arm around him, half to help him, half to keep from tumbling to the floor herself. They laughed until they hurt all over, unable to stop. One thing did stop them.

"I see you didn't miss me too much!!"

The both of them turned their head towards the door where their laughter turned to elation at the sight of Sirius Black scowling at them darkly from the porch, with Dumbledore just behind him barely suppressing his mirth. The latter looked at the fairies, gently dancing in a non-existent wind and beamed his satisfaction at Remus and Sylvia.

"I see you did an excellent job together. But I'm afraid the next project will have to wait. As soon as Sirius is rested, I will need him, and you Sylvia, for another…hum, field trip." His face grew serious as he faced her, "I'm afraid it concerns your husband, my dear. And that it is very urgent." 

___________________

TBC


	12. Field work

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DISCLAIMER: I do not own any characters in this story apart from Sylvia and Timothy. All the rest is the product of the genius imagination of J.K. Rowling. 

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Alicorn: Thank you for your good words! Err, yes I have read some Mercedes Lackey, but I had no idea she had influenced me so much that it showed in my writing!!! I think I'm kind of flattered! But maybe she would not be.

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Nite Queen: Glad to hear from you again! No problem though, we are all supposed to have a life outside the Harry Potter fandom… uh, well, okay….anyway, thanks again for your presence and support.

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Stormcloud Empath: Hey, thanks!! You wish is my command. I did this I soon as I could! 

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Sirius the Homicidal Maniac: Thanks for your concern, my daughter is well now. Glad to see I'm not the only one with mixed feeling about the Solidaris stuff… good review that! 

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Sothis Star: Thank you for an in-depth review! I've never read "Magical Beast and Where to Find Them" but I assumed that fairies were strong only in groups like bees or ants who are stupid and weak independently but a force to reckon with as a group. That is why Sylvia made a swarm of them. They move and live as a hive. Would you agree with that interpretation? There is nothing to forgive, your 'nit-picking' helped me a lot. I love to know what I do right and what I do wrong. It is the only way to get better!!

A/N: After a few reviews on the weird Solidaris conversation, I have edited it, keeping only what I liked. Thank you all for your opinions and comments. 

Well, I didn't really like the last chapter, but I think this one is definitely one of my favorite. It is also the longest yet. I know I'm not the best with sentimental scene, but bear with me, there is some action further down. I also know that it finishes, again, with a cliffhanger. Don't hate me!! I still have to work on the spying they need to do next. It just felt like the right place to stop.

Thanks again to Aurias for all his hard work! 

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Chapter 12: Field Work

"Tim? What about him? What has he done? Is he close by?" She could hear the fear in her voice and could do nothing about it. Hearing Tim's name from Dumbledore's mouth was ominous and disturbing. She unconsciously clutched at Remus' arm and looked pleadingly at Sirius, as if he could make everything right by stopping Dumbledore from ever uttering HIS name again. She had felt so safe in the wizarding world, she never had suspected that her old nemesis could come back in her life through her new friends. Magic had nothing to do with her old life, how dare Dumbledore bring it into the open! 

In a daze, she let Sirius unfasten her grip on Remus and gently eased her on the couch. "He's not close, he doesn't know where you are." He took her hand and tipped her head so that her eyes met his, "Do you understand me? You are still safe here." She took a deep breath of the unmoving air and almost choked on it, it was so humid and heavy, but it did clear her head. She relaxed marginally and nodded to Sirius. She was being stupid, Sirius would never tell on her; he was loyal to his friends. Of course, she was not totally sure he thought of her as such, and she knew next to nothing about Dumbledore. Could they have led Timothy to her? She tensed all over again and almost jumped on her feet to start running. Only the three men's worried gaze held her. Their eyes told her they cared about her, that they would never leave her alone to bear her troubled past, that they were with her, no matter what. Could she really bring herself to risk believing what their eyes were saying? She had known them for so little time; she was not that loveable. Could they be faking their anxiousness? Did it matter if they did? She let her breath out in a long sigh. With it, she let the fear go, deciding to trust these people, for better or worse. A part of her mind was still lecturing her sternly, "_You're crazy, never let your guard down, don't trust anyone, it might be a trap, you don't go relying on people just because they have wonderful eyes!! Get yourself out of there, you are better off alone..._" "_ENOUGH!_" She had enough. Enough of being alone, enough of not trusting anyone, enough of being afraid of everything. If those three were going to get her killed, then by God so be it. 

She opened eyes she did not know she had closed, sat up straight and looked at Dumbledore. "What was it, that you were saying about Timothy?" 

Dumbledore's face lit up in a dazzling smile as if he knew of all that has gone by in her head, and was glad of the conclusion she had reached. As usual, his smile made her answer with one of her own without wanting to. He came and sat at her side on the couch while Sirius took the other place near her. Remus, seeing that, uttered a spell that made a chair from the kitchen fly until it was just in front of her. They were all there, surrounding her, close enough so that she felt comforted but not enough to make her feel edgy or crowded. 

"My dear," Dumbledore began, drawing her attention back to him, "since you have told me about Timothy and his link to the Death Eaters, a lot of security leaks has become understandable. Muggles with wizard family members have been found murdered in the last two years, and not all by magical means. Some incidents were thought to be the works of muggle thieves or bandits, but some were killed by the mean of the killing curse. The murders are neither random nor was anything stolen, and some of those families were under magical protection. The Ministry of Magic had no idea how the locations were discovered. We suspected a spy in the ministry, but never did a muggle was even thought of as a possible source of information. Until you came here and told me your story." He paused for an instant, as if hesitating, "Sylvia, your husband needs to be stopped. We cannot go on with him snapping at our heels. A lot of good people were killed, some didn't know about the wizarding world and they were just killed because they were the wife or kids of someone who was linked to us. In order to stop him, we… need your help." He waited for her reaction, but she gave no sign of what she was thinking. In fact, she could feel or think of nothing. She was so tired. They wanted her help. Right. Doing what? Walk straight into Tim's office and tell him he had been naughty? Ask him to stop at once? She had no lever on him, no filthy habits with which they could blackmail him and no sexy tricks that could turn him around. She had been nothing to him but a toy.

She rubbed her nose ridge with weariness, "What is it that you want me to do?"

Dumbledore examined her with gravity as if weighting her amount of courage and determination against what he was going to tell her. "We have led Timothy in a wild goose chase, over a false sighting of you in Bath. He will be gone tomorrow from his flat in London for about four to five days. You know where you have found the first messages. I want you, with Sirius' help, to get inside the place, take the latest messages and leave a virtual spy, so that we learn how he gets the notes. Then, if possible, follow the messenger and destroy or arrest his informant. If he gets it by owls, which I highly doubt, Sirius can put Owl charms around him without his knowledge." His voice dropped down to a gentle whisper, but she heard every word, "I know I have no rights to ask you this. You will have to see him again, to go inside the very place where you were hurt the most, to touch things and see person you once knew and cared for. Even under a very good disguise, and magical help, it will still be very dangerous. Will you help us? We could do it without your help, but it would be more difficult, long and the result unreliable. We need to put a stop to this…this massacre as soon as possible. We need to cut Voldemort from this source of information or all the fighting might be in vain."

A long weighty silence followed this lengthy explanation. Sylvia still felt detached, as if this conversation in no way concerned her. The three men seemed to be holding their breaths, awaiting her response. "You are aware," she said slowly in the silence, making Remus and Sirius jump, " that if I do that, I would be having a panic attack every fifteen minutes or so? That would not make me a very reliable spy, would it?" 

Dumbledore nodded, "Yes, I know. I had a talk with Madam Pomfrey. She also told me in no uncertain terms that doing so would probably result in mild to severe neurological damage to you. It is your choice."

At that, Sirius got to his feet, white with anger to confront his mentor. "You can't ask her to do that if it is going to cripple her for the rest of her life!!! You just can't! What kind of wizard are you?!" 

The old man raised steady eyes to meet Black's furious ones, "The kind desperate enough to try to stop a war before it starts. Because if it ever starts Sirius, her nerves will be the least of her worries and all of us will be dead." 

Sylvia put a calming hand on Sirius' arm, adding her logic to Dumbledore's, "It is my choice, Sirius, and my nerves. Madam Pomfrey told me already that I was probably too far gone anyway. There is a very large chance that I will never recover as it is, so a little bit more damage…" She shrugged at her two gaping friends and smiled, "Thank you for the knight in shining armor rescue though, that was sweet. I've never had a man jump at my defense before." She turned to Dumbledore again and gave him the answer he was waiting for. "If you are willing to trust my failing nerves, then I will do it, or try to anyway." 

Then she got up and went to her room with an overwhelming need to both cry and laugh hysterically at her own folly.

***

Crying did help, a little. She felt as if she had just sealed her own fate, committed suicide without actually dying. Nothing was ever going to be right again, she knew. She had deluded herself with illusions that when everything would be finished, Tim dead or in prison and she free once more, she could go back at being the Sylvia she was before Tim came and destroyed everything. She would go back to her parents and her friends, flirt a little, maybe even find a gentleman and get married again. She had wanted to have children in her first year of marriage. Now she thanked God that she had decided to wait a bit. 

Yes, she was too far gone now, she was so different from what she used to be. Her body and mind were wrecked and she was charging straight into danger. Nothing like the sensible girl she always was proud to be. Logical, stable and even tempered, that was her, never impetuous or wild or even dreamy. Such a good little girl.

She turned on her back, fixing through the window the waning moon floating over the treetops. It was late, she realized. She had cried for a long time, unaware of anything but her own misery. With a start, she thought that Remus was probably gone, she did not even say goodbye to him or thank him for his friendship. She hastily got up and went to her small desk to write a short missive to her friend. Once finished, she went to the window and softly called the small barny owl, which shortly came and went to deliver the message.

She turned back to her bed, but she felt too awake and too anxious to sleep. She decided to go to the kitchen for a glass of warm milk. She really needed her sleep, the next few days were going to be difficult enough without going through them half-asleep. 

She opened her door slowly, trying not to make any noise. Sirius would probably be sleeping on the couch; there was no need to wake him. At least one of them should be fresh and alert in the morning. She slipped through the crack of the door and carefully treaded her path around the nosiest spot on the wood floor. She suddenly froze as a movement caught the corner of her eyes. She instantly turned her head toward the small living room and there she saw the large form of a man, black against the moonlight coming from the big window behind him, standing there, unmoving. 

Sirius. He was awake after all. She relaxed her awkward stance and stared at him, letting her eyes roam on his powerful, naked back and strong arms, delineated by the soft blue light of the night. A shiver ran through her as she struggled to keep from moving even a finger, unwilling to break the moment. Slowly, as if alerted to her presence by some instinct, his profile appeared over the window and he called softly, "Sylvia?"

"Yes." Her answer was but a murmur but he heard it and turned to face her. Her feet moved on their own volition to get closer to him, where she could see his face.

"Are you all right?" His voice was low and vibrant and his gaze searching.

"No. Not really." She shrugged and averted her face. She felt ugly. She was still fully dressed, having thrown herself on her bed to cry without bothering to undress. Her eyes were red and puffed, her hair flat and dead and her mouth felt, and probably smelled, like a sewer. After a moment of silence, she continued, "Sorry…to have disturbed you, I just wanted a glass of milk…." She closed her mouth on her babbling and spun on her heels to resume her trek to the kitchen.

"Wait!" he called.

She half-turned toward him, "Yes?"

He took a long breath, "Do you remember I told Dumbledore that I knew a spell to talk to my friends while in animagus form?"

She faced him, her interest aroused in spite of everything. "Yes, I do. What of it?" She asked calmly

He closed the small gap between them with two steps, his warmth enveloping her like a blanket. She had to raise her head to keep her gaze firmly on his face. She dared not look lower in fear of losing the little control she still had. She could feel his body close to hers, his scent assaulting her nostrils, his proximity awakening her body like nothing else could. He gazed down on her, not touching her and licked his lips. She groaned inwardly, "_Please, don't do that!_" 

"I would like to perform the spell now, since we are both awake and about. It would save us time tomorrow and since I will travel as a dog, we will need to keep in touch. What do you say?" 

She kept eye contact and answered boldly, "Okay, but you have to answer something first."

He stilled, visibly taken aback, and considered her for a while. His voice sounded husky when he asked, "What is it?"

"The night we came back from Harry's house, I fell asleep on the couch. I awoke the next morning in my bed…" she whispered the rest, her face aflame, "na…naked. Do you by any chance had anything to do with that?" She made the mistake of lowering her eyes to his broad shoulders, wanting to avoid his eyes_. "Oh jeez! What got into me, asking that? God! He's gorgeous!_" With an effort of will, she brought back her gaze to his face, surprised to see it as red as hers was a moment ago. Her eyes grew wide at the sight and her mouth uttered a faint "Oh." of understanding. 

"Oh! Indeed." He said in a low, hoarse voice, staring at her. "I guess I should apologize…" his gaze lifted from her face to contemplate the darkness above her head, "but I will never, as long as I live, forget that moment. You were like a kitten looking for warmth. It took all I had to leave you there." His eyes came back to hers, "I swear, I did nothing more than undress you. I did not touch you, as much as I wanted to… You believe me, do you?" He seemed anxious that she did. She nodded, unable to speak and her stomach was in knots over the desire she could see in his dark gaze. She only had to raise her head a trifle to meet his lips with hers… she started to do so, but suddenly backed away from the moment, afraid of the intensity of what lay between them. It was rather like being fascinated by fire, wanting to touch it, yet knowing you would get badly burnt if you did. She took a step back.

She took a steadying breath and said with false enthusiasm, "Well, how does this spell of yours work?"

If possible, his eyes glowed even more, and he smiled. "Yes. The spell." His voice still had this low husky tone and Sylvia shivered again under the caress in his voice. "It is called the _Arcanus Loqui_ charm. It goes like this: since I'm the wizard, I will initiate the spell. I will send a thought toward you, like a knock on a door. It is up to you to accept it or not. My thoughts will go just as far as you want them to…penetrate. People usually keep them in the outward region of their thoughts, where you talk to yourself. It is called a 'public' area. Then, you 'follow' the alien thought to its origin with a thought of your own. Since you are not a witch, it will be impossible for you to ever initiate contacts. But once the link is there, we can keep it open for hours. It is always severed when one of the two is unconscious or asleep. I will never force a contact on you or try to pry into your dreams. Those are the rules. Do you trust me to respect you in this?" She nodded, "Do you understand everything? Any questions?" She shook her head. "All right, then."

He walked to his discarded robe and took his wand from one of its pocket. He turned to her, his wand high. "Are you ready?"

She swallowed her nervousness and answered clearly, "Yes, I am." It all sounded so…formal. Like a ceremony. Sirius mumbled a series of odd sounding phrases, pointed his wand at her and closed his eyes. She held herself up tight, waiting for light and thunder to struck her, but nothing happened. Trying to see what went wrong, she took a look around her, then made a survey of herself. That's when she felt it. Like a feather brushing her scalp. She concentrated on the feeling, curious. She touched it with a tentative tendril of thought and heard a whisper, "_~It is me, Sirius, let me in. ~_" She gasped and almost lost contact. It was much more than just a voice!!! It was like a little ball of Sirius Black essence wanting in! It was all there, his musky scent, rasp voice, the feeling of his profound dark eyes, the warmth of his large body, his sense of humor and his playfulness, his desire and caring, his regrets and pains, his love for his Godson and Remus and even the dark corners of his fears and nightmares. Did she really want all of that inside her head? Did she really want to give that much of herself over to him?

"Is it suppose to be that…that…, I don't know… so full of yourself? It's like looking into your personal diary! I thought it was going to be like…like talking, only inside each other's head." 

He frowned, "You're describing it exactly. What is it that you felt, then?" 

She told him, at length. The more she explained, the whiter he became until he finally collapsed on the couch-turned-bed. 

"What you're saying, it's not possible. Only people who have been together for a very long time can feel the other to such a deep level." He stared at nothing for a while, trying to decipher what could have brought this on. "Maybe…maybe it's my fault," he suddenly said, startling her out of a half-doze, "I think my time in Azkaban might have had an unexpected side effect. In order not to lose my mind in there, I had to keep a firm grip on who I was, on my feeling of self. I think I'm now so used to it, that I cannot distance myself from…myself. It's all in a tangle." He raised his eyes to her, "I'm afraid that in order for this spell to work, you'll have to take all of me or nothing at all. I don't think there's a middle ground in me anymore." He stood up, all business, "You don't have to decide that tonight, you're tired, it's very late. Better to catch some sleep while we can." 

She looked at him with furrowed brows, "Would it not bother you to let me feel, know so much about you? What I felt was very…intimate. It's not me who should give this a second thought, it's you. I would have access to…damn! To your very soul!" She was angry with him for not considering every risk, for not really thinking about what it was that he was offering her.

He walked to her slowly, "I don't have to think about it, Sylvia. I've lived with you remember? I saw how careful you tried to protect Max and his sister. I saw how good you were with keeping secrets. I would trust you with my soul and more. You don't have to do the same for me, this is my problem, not yours."

"It doesn't feel very fair, receiving so much from you and giving so little of myself in return." She said dubiously. "I want to try again, now. Please?"

His gaze deepened, "if you're sure… " At her nod, he closed his eyes and she did the same.

This time, she knew what to look for, so she found the soft touch immediately. She touched it carefully and again she felt him, all of him, like a part of her she did not knew she had lost. "_~ I'm here, here…~_" She followed the fragile thought until she had a visual image of him, welcoming her with a smile. He extended his hand to her, she took it…and felt the link fall into place between them. 

She opened her eyes and sent a thought at his 'presence' in her mind "_~ Is it done? ~_" She discovered with some surprise that what she felt was the emotions surroundings his memories, not the memories themselves. She was definitely grateful for that. From the amount of emotional pain coming from the corner of him connected with the twelve years he lived in prison, she was pretty sure she did not want to see the memories. He was all light and shadows, innocent and ugly, a dangerous man and a laughing boy all at the same time. He was also solid as a rock and so rooted in his faith in his friends, in his sense of responsibility to a lost little orphan boy that he felt like an unmovable granite mountain. Dedicated, single-minded, noble, he was right; there was no middle ground in him. He loved and hated with the same intensity, with his whole being. She could even feel the part of him that was his animagus; loyal, playful, free, but also lonely and lost, despairingly trying to find a place to call his own. 

"_~ Yes, how do you feel? ~_" 

She smiled, "_~ Like this. ~_" And she opened herself to him, letting him feel everything. She had nothing to lose. The future she had dreamed for herself was more than improbable now, she was not even sure she was going to survive the next few months. She had decided to trust him, she might as well do it completely. She was also pretty sure he knew how she felt about him, so that was no big surprise. There was nothing really that she felt now was necessary to hide from him. He already knew her more than her own parents did. So, she was taken completely by surprise when she saw tears running down his face. 

"_~ What's wrong? ~_" She sent to him, along with her worry, her care and her fear that she had caused him pain. 

"_~ He has betrayed and hurt you, like Wormtail did. You understand. You understand…~_" 

She understood. They were alike in many ways and yet in others they were as different as fire and ice. Where he was all black and white, she was made of all the shades of gray, when he was decisive and sure of himself, she was ambiguous, scared to commit herself, doubting everything and everyone. He could steady her and help her to believe, she could teach him that the darkness in him did not make him a monster or a madman doomed to loneliness. They could, if life gave them the chance…

She hold him and cried with him until he fell asleep, then she covered him and went to bed for a mere three hours of sleep with a smile on her face. Surprisingly, she felt… clean and full of hope. Timothy had not the shadow of a chance!

*** 

She came out of the shower, the next morning, dressed and refreshed, only to find that Sirius had already started breakfast. He had only his pants on and his chest under the morning light was even more tempting than under the moonlight. He looked up at her and smiled. There was so much joy in it that she answered it with a tremendous feeling of happiness swelling inside her. She sat down and accepted a plate of succulent looking pancakes. She raised a surprise eyebrow at him.

"This is my specialty, I can't do more than that!"

She laughed and attacked her plate with energy. "So," she said after only their coffee was left to drink. "How are we going to arrange things for this 'mission'?"

He smiled again, "There's nothing to arrange. Dumbledore saw to everything. We have an apartment rented for us, with a fireplace, and a computer for you, with enough muggle money to buy an entire store if you need to." Seeing the surprise in her face, he added, "The fireplace is for communication and emergency exit purpose and since going through the floo network would probably damage your laptop, the headmaster thought it preferable and more economic to buy you one instead of two new ones." He grinned at her delight and continued, "The apartment is located two streets down from your old home. We will go there from the Leaky Cauldron in a taxi, under a disguise of course. You already have Caitlin Blackburn's papers, I'm your dog, Skif. When I'm human, I'll be your friend Devlin Collier. Dumbledore gave me his papers. You also need to find yourself a job that make it possible for you to stay home a lot."

Sylvia thought about it, "Um. A writer for a children magazine I think." 

"All right then, time to get into costume." He gulped the rest of his coffee down and got up. "I'll do the dishes, your disguise is quite a bit longer than mine to prepare!"

She transformed into Caitlin, glad that she was less complicated than Rowena. She packed clothes and make up, a few books and her nerves potions. In less than an hour, she was ready. She bolted the door, closed the blinds to indicated that she was not home, carefully put her laptop away and turned to face Sirius who was waiting for her beside the fireplace with the floo powder and his own packed stuff.

"Before we go, let's find ourselves a code to indicate that you want me to use the _Arcanus Loqui_. You could, for example, pat Skif under the chin?" At her nod of acceptance, he continued, "I will transform as soon as we are outside the pub, you'll stop a cab while I do it. I will initiate the contact inside the cab and we will keep it open for the rest of the day. This afternoon, we will go for a walk and see if Timothy is gone. Agreed?" 

She nodded again. He was more used to this than she was, her hands were shaking while he seemed focused and very much in control. She took a deep breath and grabbed a handful of powder. 

"_Here we go."_ She thought before flinging the powder at her feet. "The Leaky Cauldron!" 

***

Everything went according to plan. The apartment was small but fine. It appeared that it was owned by a wizard who owed Dumbledore and agreed to rent his home for a couple of weeks while he was on vacation. Hence, the place was full of magical devices which Sylvia had no idea how to use. The computer was a laptop of the latest sort with all the right software included. A note near it explained clearly that Remus had been very observant indeed and gave Dumbledore's man a list of everything that was on her computer back at the cabin.

Skif sniffed everywhere before turning into Sirius, reassured that no one was around. "Let's eat. Then to Tim's place." He looked at her with worried eyes. "Are you okay so far?"

It was strange to be in London again, to hear the familiar noises in the very neighborhood where she used to live. She smiled at her partner, "I'm all right Sirius. I'm not that fragile. I'll tell you, one way or another, if I feel an attack coming." She looked around and frowned, "I think it's my turn to sleep on the sofa, you take the bedroom."

He took a ridiculous pseudo seductive pose and crooked a finger at her, "You are welcome to share, baby…" 

She laughed and threw a pillow at him. "Go unpack, punk, while I make lunch." 

~

On their way to Tim's, she stopped at an electronic shop for a digital camera, letting Skif, attached by his leash to a lamppost, wait outside. "_~ There's a big, decorative vase in a corner of his office, I'll take pictures of it and reproduce it in 3D. It'll be a perfect place to hide a video camera. ~_" She explained mentally to him. "_~ I don't think Tim ever look twice at it. ~_"

They soon found themselves in front of the building where she used to live. Her heart started beating a little faster. "_~ Let's go a little further up, there's a back alley with a rear entrance to the building. I think we can sneak to take a look at one of the windows to check if he's gone. ~_" 

Skif just started to run in front of her in answer, pulling on his leash. She could feel through the link that he was not happy being hampered but they didn't have much choice. They turned into the alley, and found themselves in a dark and smelly dead end where the garbage cans were dumped. The only thing of interest was a metal door on the side of the building with a short flight of stairs and a banister. Sylvia felt her heart squeeze with painful memories at the smell and sight of the place. She refused to think of some of the things that had happened in here and instead concentrated on counting the windows. 

Feeling her unease, Sirius changed back, taking off his collar. He took one of her hands and squeezed it in an effort to show his support. "Where?" He asked in a whisper.

"Third window from the far corner, on the second floor." She answered in the same manner. They walked to the end of the short alley and she pointed the right window to him. "That's his living room, the other window on the right is the bedroom. If he's not gone, he should be in one or the other, getting ready."

She had just finished her whispered explanation when they heard the screeching of the metal door opening and a handsome voice saying: "We're going to get her this time, we have too. My boss is getting to curious about why the strange murders continue even though my wife no longer has access to me as a way to get information. I had to tell him she had got away with more than we thought, which made me look like a fool to have bring so much stuff home." 

It was Tim! With him were eight young men and a lot of equipment. Screams exploded inside her head, a red veil falling in front of her eyes. Fortunately, her throat was closed by panic and she could not utter a sound, otherwise her terrified shrieks would have been the end of them both. She wanted to flee, to jump on her husband like an angry cat and shred him to pieces, to let darkness engulf her and never come to, to hide into Sirius' arms and wail like a little girl, all at the same time. She started to gasp and shake.

Sirius took no time to act. He took her in his arms and kissed her, forcing air into her lungs. Making it impossible for her to move. His mind gripped her just as tightly, trying to cut through the wall of horror surrounding her. "_~ Sylvia! Grab my shoulders! They are too many for me to tackle by myself. Our only chance is to make them believe we are nothing more than a couple taking advantage of a dark corner! Sylvia, come on, listen to me!! ~_" 

In a haze, like a woman drowning and trying to grab a life buoy, she extended an arm and put it around his shoulder, suddenly hugging him as if he was the only thing between her and death. She heard through the pain, a whistle of appreciation coming from the group and a few rude comments followed by laughter. She distantly heard Tim say: "She has nice legs, too bad we're in a hurry!" Then, the laughter died away as they moved toward the street, and were gone. 

Clinging to Sirius' mind, Sylvia tried to keep the fainting spell descending on her at bay. Her eyes were hurting her with the tears that were unable to escape. After a brief while, Sirius' lips left hers and out of breath he said, "Let's get you somewhere safe." With her arm still on his shoulder, he helped her to stand and started in the direction of the stairs. It took a moment to Sylvia to register exactly where he intended to go. She tried to stop him. "_~ NO! Not there. He could come back. He could hurt me again…~_" 

"_~ I'm sorry. We don't have many options. We can't stay here and, in your condition, we're too far from the apartment. You need to take your potions and lie down fast. There is nowhere else. ~_"

He dragged her to the metal door, and taking his wand out, said a soft word. The door opened slightly, they went in. With fire roaring in her head, she saw the corridor and the door leading to her personal hell. She fainted.

TBC… 

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	13. Down memory lane

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DISCLAIMER: I do not own any characters in this story apart from Sylvia and Timothy. All the rest is the product of the genius imagination of J.K. Rowling. 

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Nite Queen: Thank you. Don't worry, no cliffhanger this time!

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Sothis Star: Glad you liked it! Thank you for your suggestions, I'll keep it in mind. 

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Padfoot 1979: Wow! It's really a boost to be told that I'm getting better! Thanks!!!

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Stormcloud Empath: I just love your reviews! Thank you soooo much!

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Alicorn: Your wish is my command!

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Tinkerbell24: Gee! (blushing) I don't know what to say! Thanks! 

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Romm: Welcome and thanks for taking time to write a review. It's really appreciated.

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Nycgrl: A perfect character is just too predictable and, well, not really believable so, I made her just like me: a real mess! Good to hear from you again!

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Windy: Welcome aboard and a huge thank you for your enthusiastic review. 

A special thanks to my beta-reader **Aurias** for her great work and all her encouragement. 

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A/N: I'm sure all of you have read _Order of the Phoenix_ by now… and you all know what happens to our favorite character. That particular event really, really shook me. For a while I had no heart to write a Sirius story, knowing his fate. Then, I got angry, not of J.K. of course, but of those Death Eaters. I decided to get my revenge…so I change part of the chapter to include the little action piece at the end to get some steam out of my system. Angry seems to agree with me, it turned out to be one of my favorite scene.

I also received some very great reviews over the last month, from old and new readers, and I could not deny those who wanted more. If this chapter is here now, it's because of you…Thank you, I love you guys!!!

On an optimistic note, this story has now more than fifty reviews! Hurray!

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Chapter 13: **Down** **Memory lane**

Sylvia woke up with her head feeling like a gong in a full-fledged Tibetan ceremony. She could not help but moan as she slit-opened her eyes to a painfully bright room. She closed them instantly and tried to remember what happened and where the heck she was. She could feel arms around her, pinning her hands to her body and legs wrapped around hers. Slowly, memories start coming back from the back of her head, painstakingly fighting the urge to forget and the hurts it caused on its way to consciousness. Dumbledore had asked her something… something to do with Tim…yes… and Sirius was going with her. But what was it, and why? Then, suddenly like a floodgate opening, it all came back. She gasped and tensed as the memories of pain, panic and despair washed over her all at once. Instantly, the arms and legs encircling her tightened their grip and a voice spoke soothingly in her left ear.

"Hush. It's all right. It's me, Sirius. You're okay. Just don't move for now, take your time. I gave you as much potions as I dared, you still had a seizure but not as strong or as long as last time. I held on to you to prevent you from hurting yourself." She heard him take a shaky breath, "I'm going to let go now, all right?" 

"No, please!" She didn't want him to go, didn't want to open her eyes, to come back to the hard reality of her situation. She felt safe like this in his arms; she could float away from her problems, forget everything and just be happy to be with him, protected and warm. She felt…cared for. It was almost an alien feeling; it has been so long…

"Sylvia, I'm sorry," Sirius' voice continued, "but we have a job to do. As much as I would like to stay with you like this forever, this is definitely neither the right place nor time for it." He untangled himself from her, slowly, reluctantly. 

She turned around on the bed to face him and opened her eyes…that ended up as an unwise thing to do as pain lanced through her instantly like hot needles going straight to her brain. She closed her eyes and fought the waves of pain and nausea with determination. 

"You have to go slow. With the attack and the amount of potions you just ingurgitated, it's pretty normal to feel, huh, out of sort."

"_Out of sort?!_" She snorted mentally for it was preferable to keep her mouth firmly shut at this time, "_That's the understatement of the century!!_"

"I don't dare give you anything else for now." Sirius went on, "You can recuperate while I take a look around." 

She stayed there without moving for a while, with bouts of nausea and acute pain alternating with moments of dreamy contentment. Finally, after what felt like hours, her migraine faded out a little and she was able to let her eyes adjust to the sunlight without too much pain involved. At this point, she suddenly was confronted by what she had tried very hard not to think about: she was in her old apartment. At least Sirius had sense enough not to bring her to the master bedroom. This was the little guest room that was rarely used in her time. Fortunately, she did not have horrible memories link with this room so she could test her strength without having to fight another panic attack every time she turned around. 

She slowly eased herself up on her elbow, stopping every now and then when she felt a hint of dizziness or her stomach starting to roll uncomfortably. Eventually she found herself sitting on the edge of the bed, taking a brief inventory of her condition. She was getting stronger by the moments, the migraine had receded to a common annoying headache, her stomach wasn't rolling as if she was on the deck of a ship anymore, her breathing was back to normal and her hands were barely shaking. She took a minute to steady herself and decided to try her legs. She got up prudently with a hand an inch from the wall just in case she needed support, but her legs took her weight with little or no problems. 

Her confidence grew fast, she walked around the room, noticing the few small changes that had been done to it in the few years she had been gone. The little white curtains she had installed so long ago around the window had been replaced by white plastic blinds, the delicate antique bedside lamp she had been so delighted to find for a ridiculous low price in a garage sale during her first year of marriage had disappeared to make place for a sturdy commercial lamp and the small rug that used to be in her childhood room and that her mother had given her as a wedding gift was nowhere to be seen. Apart from those little changes, it was the same room she had decorated herself enthusiastically when she had first moved in. She grimaced at the memory, remembering how infatuated, trusting and naive she had been then, refusing to see the signs of what was coming. 

"_Don't think about it, there's nothing you can do about the past, but you can do something about the future. Don't think about anything else but that or you won't be able to do much._" With that firmly in mind, she reached for the door and walked out of her little sanctuary. 

As prepared as she thought she was, the familiar sight and smell of the sitting room made her stomach go straight to her throat. She closed her eyes against the memories threatening to overwhelm her. Instead, she filled her head with images of her cabin near the lake, of her pride in her work, of her feeling of freedom and accomplishment. She thought of Max who gave her a chance to start over, of Elizabeth and Melanie who have supported her, of Dumbledore who was counting on her and especially of Sirius: she recalled every moments since she had met him as a stray dog, to the wonderful time they had in Diagon Alley. She thought of the gentle and wise Remus and of the young boy, Harry Potter, who needed her in order to destroy his own nightmare. She used all those new memories to wall out the old ones, and carefully opened her eyes. She was taking aback to find Sirius there, just in front of her, she had not heard him approach. His eyes were full of concern.

"Are you all right?" He asked her for the thousandth time today. 

"I'm not sure. I…I think I need your help." At his ready nod, she continued hesitantly, thinking her way through the idea while talking. "I want you to establish the link… and then send me over it all the positive memories you have of me, my life, my work, anything good, anything you can think of. I think …I hope I can keep the attacks at bay if I can somehow make clear to myself that all this crap happened in the past … and that I have another, better life now. The attacks make me relive over and over again the worst parts of my time here, …it's as if my mind is stuck there. Maybe…maybe if I can force myself to be in the present instead, I think that I could at least function while I'm here. And do my job." 

He nodded again with a smile of relief that she had found a way to deal with the problem and closed his eyes to send the now familiar probing caress to her thoughts. She gripped it with eagerness and she rapidly felt the link fall into place. Only when the solid and confidant presence of Sirius hit her did she really understand how close to the edge she actually was. She was tottering on the brink of an attack with only her recent memories as a weak defense. Sirius came to the rescue with strong positive emotions and images flooding her, making the nightmare recede back into the shadows. She was surprised at how many good things he linked with their time together at the lake. He sent her the simple pleasures of the times he warmed his dog hide under the sun while she was working nearby, the deep rightness of their partnership during combat training, the happiness he felt when, coming back tired from a mission for Dumbledore and spotting the cabin with all the lights on and a full meal waiting for him in his bowl on the porch, all the little things that made him feel like coming home to a place where he was accepted and missed. 

Sylvia smiled at all the warm feelings that now enveloped her like a blanket, protecting her from her own memories. "_I better be cautious with this, I could easily get addicted to it._" 

"~_We'll be careful~_", was Sirius' comment with a hint of a nod accompanying the thought.

Sylvia froze and faced him with daggers in her eyes, "~_HEY! That was a personal thought!!!~_" 

Sirius looked at her bewildered "_~It was? It felt like a sending! How could I have hear it if it was personal?_" 

"~_I don't …_" Sylvia angry reply was cut short by a sharp memory of herself barking at something at her feet with her hands on her hips in front of her cabin. The memory seemed to take exceptional notice of the way the sun glinted in her hair and the way her T-shirt clung at her body. That was a memory of the first time she had fed Skif! Then the memory sped up to the time later that day when she had gone to swim in the lake …naked. 

"Oh my God!" Sylvia turned red and went to the sofa to sit down. She didn't care where she was anymore for her legs were just suddenly not strong enough to support her! "You saw me?!! You looked while I was swimming?!! You…you..." She tried to collect her thoughts but she was just too embarrassed, angry and confused to utter anything.

Sirius slowly came to sit in front of her. He was as white as her shirt and she could feel his shock and unease tinged with a little guilt coming through the link. "You mean you SAW that? You're not supposed to SEE memories! Just feel the emotions coming from them! And I was not sending, I'm sure of it!" He shook his head, coming back to the present. "I'm sorry Sylvia. It's just that…seeing you angry reminded me of that first day I met you. You were so …beautiful and I was so curious… well, you know…I had no idea we were going to become friends. I'm very sorry."

She examined him for a few minutes, felt the truth behind his words, then took a deep breath and let it go in a long sigh. "It's okay Sirius, I understand. Still, it's embarrassing to say the least! It's going to be awkward having to apologize or explain every one of our memories and feelings if we can't even keep them for ourselves! Not to mention it might be dangerous and confusing in a fight. We really don't need another complication. I didn't see memories from our first link last night. Why and how is it happening now?" 

"I'm not sure. This thing is like nothing I have ever experienced or heard of. Maybe it is caused by my own peculiarities, maybe it has never been done with a muggle before and it functions differently with one. I just don't know. Let me think about it, okay? In the meantime, we might as well do what we came here to do since this memory cushioning of yours seems to be working."

She nodded her consent and they both got up to get to work.

She went straight to Tim's study without looking right or left. With Sirius' silent and emotional support, she was able to go to the desk and open the lower left drawer without too much trembling. It almost felt like walking in a warm light fog though. The more traumatizing the scene, the more cushioning he had to provide, making her feel like she was not really there, touching things with an aloofness that was somehow out of character. Sometimes he would miss a memory and it would slip through his shielding and assault her with an uncaring clarity, leaving her a little bit more shaken each time. 

She quickly took all the stuff out of the drawer, putting them on the carpet and giving her access to the small secret compartment under the false bottom. She opened its tiny catch, revealing some papers.

"Is that it?" 

"Yea. Better take a look at it to see if it's new stuff though. Maybe it's the old ones and he has found another place to hide the new ones. Can you do that? I need to start taking pictures of that vase."

"Sure. Go ahead." 

She got up and took her new digital camera out of her handbag. Her senses and memory still shrouded in Sirius' spell of warmth and happy thoughts, she faced the corner without hesitation and made a pretty thorough job of shooting the big, ugly thing from every possible angle. 

She was getting to the end of the memory capacity of the camera when Sirius called her. "Are you almost finished? I have made all the copies. Dumbledore will be pretty happy, there's lot of information in this. If you're done, then we can finally get the hell out of here."

She took her last picture and turned to answer him. She stared at him for a full minute, aghast at his condition. He was covered with sweat and was visibly exhausted. He smile wanly at her, "keeping you safe and happy here is a very difficult job. I hope I never have to come to this place ever again." 

She swallowed at the realization of the amount of strength he had given for her sake and went to him, putting a hand on his cheek, "Thank you Sirius, I could never have done it without you." To underscore her words, she sent him all that she felt and that words alone could not express; her respect, her admiration and all of her deep love for him…

They went back to the flat at a leisurely pace to let her adjust to the gradual ebbing of Sirius' memory cushion on her. It was like a dream slowly sliding through her fingers. Reality came back to her and with it all her uncertainties and self doubts. Did she really stood in Tim's study and kept her sanity? And how would Sirius respond to that last sending that she had given? She could feel nothing out of the usual coming out of the link from her partner, only a lot of fatigue and some worrying but no hint as to what exactly he was worrying about. She risked a sidelong glance, but his dogface was, just as always, neutral and serious. She pushed the question out of her mind for now. She needed to plan how to do this spying stuff efficiently. Reproducing the vase shouldn't take more than a few days. She would make it just a little bit bigger than the original so that it would hide it and the virtual camera. It should be ready for Tim's return. Now, they would also need to keep a record of whatever they see. There was this little piece of technology that some of her teachers at Tech. School used to show presentation on a television set. She was pretty sure it was still on the market. If you can put it up on TV, then you can tape it. 

She set to work as soon as she arrived at the apartment, restless with the need of putting some work between her and the vague memories of what happened at her old home. She checked on the Internet to make sure the technology she remembered still exists, then called a retailer to order it. Only when she felt the link slowly disappearing from her mind did she notice that Sirius had changed back and fell asleep on the sofa. She smiled and put a blanket around his broad shoulders before going back to her computer and the download of the vase pictures to her hard disk. 

She stopped working only when exhaustion claimed her and she felt she could safely go to bed without suffering from nightmares. She had done well. The virtual vase was slowly growing to become as ugly as the original. She actually had to fight her artistic urges to improve it and frequently had to catch herself from doing so. She yawned and stretched, since Sirius had occupied the sofa, she had no other choice but to take the bed. She took off her clothes, put an old long t-shirt on, and dropped on the mattress, oblivious to the world in a moment.

***

Two days later, after their usual morning training session, the two of them went out to get the piece she had ordered and to take a peek at Tim's place to make sure he was not back yet. The vase was almost ready; they intended to put it in place the day after. Sylvia's mind was full of the work she still had ahead of her and Sirius, in his animagus form, was following her thoughts through the link and asking a question now and then.

"_~Do you need to go back to the flat to install that thing?~_" he asked with a little apprehension. 

"_~Not me, no. I really don't want to get back there, I can send the construct invisibly from the apartment. I would like you to be there though, to make sure it covers the entirety of the real vase and that there's nothing suspicious about it. With the camera attached to it, I can see a good angle in the room, but I can't see the whole place. It would be easier to have a person there to make sure everything is all right than to place another camera. Without me to limit you, you can go there and work without problems.~_"

There was a little pause before Sirius answered, "_~I would not say that. In order to cushion you from the memories there…I had to see those memories first. I…_" She felt the dog at her side shake his head and felt through the link the anguish and the anger he experienced, "_You're a very, very courageous woman, and I hate that place just as much as you do, maybe even more so." _He hesitated for a while before going on, softly_ "~As for that MAN, if I ever get face to face with him…I'm really not sure if I will be able to…_" 

Sylvia never learned what Sirius was about to say, for just as they got in front of a dark alley, something invisible grabbed them and ushered them inside the small space between the two buildings. Out of balance, they ended up entangled in the leash, on their back, in front of a crowd of six Death Eaters, wands out pointing straight at them. 

With a snarl and a menacing gesture with his wand, the masked man in the front commanded them, "Get up on your feet, you damn dirty muggle, and you too, Black the stinking doggy. You have a lot to answer for. The dark Lord is not happy with you, dog. You should've listen to your mother more carefully." 

Getting slowly to her feet, Sylvia discreetly detached the leach from her partner's collar and frowned. "_I know that voice. Where in heaven have I heard it before?_" 

"_~You heard him in Diagon Alley, that's Lucius Malfoy~_" was Sirius' answer.

"_~Oh! Yea~_" She was astonished by her own calm, no panic attack for her now. The fact that these people were not link in anyway to a traumatic event in her past, her training and the battle readiness that emanated from her partner was enough to put her in that particular state of mind where nothing but her opponent exists. No past, no future, just the present and the necessity of survival. 

"What do you want with us, Mr. Malfoy?" She asked, happy to see the Death Eater disconcerted for a few seconds from hearing her utter his name. Seconds she used to scan the surroundings, cataloguing quickly the objects she could use as a weapon, and the space available to them to make a stand. The two of them still had their backs to the opening between the walls - A serious mistake from the Death Eaters' part. If they could create enough mayhem, they might be able to slip back to the street with only a few dozen steps and a handful of dangerous seconds. Apart from that, there was this little niche huddled between two stacks of crates. With their backs to the wall, the crates would prevent their enemies from attacking from the sides, the only option left would be to try and get them up front. In such a small space, their enemies would get into each other's way. They would have no choice but to attack by one or twos. A definitive advantage, unless the Death Eaters were intelligent enough to think of using the crates themselves by pushing those on her and her partner's head. Well, nothing's perfect, it was a risk she personally was ready to take. She was dubious of their opponent's combat and strategic skills and from what Sirius had told her, they were into it for fun rather then learning. Even more interesting was that big piece of wood lying in the dirt close by, as that would make a very nice cudgel. 

Following her thoughts, Sirius added, "_~ I don't think we can make it outside. Don't underestimate them, especially Malfoy. Last time you fought Death Eaters, you took them by surprise, today they're ready, and they'll be much faster than you think. You're right about that niche though, it's perfect, and I can charm the crates so that those bastards don't throw them down on us. I'm gonna change back once we're there, right now if there is so much as a glimmer on my fur, they're likely to hex me.~_" 

After those few seconds of intense concentration, Malfoy regained his confidence and retorted to her question with words dripping with all the scorn that the master of the world would show for an ant, "With you, I want nothing muggle, nothing but your death!" he raised his wand straight to her chest with all the drama of an actor. That gave her the time she needed.

"Dumbledore, man, am I happy to see you!!!" she screamed, looking straight at the back of the alley, while just at the same moment, Sirius' dog head snapped up and he barked once as if in welcome. What was the chance the two of them would react at exactly the same time if this were nothing but a ploy? Not much. 

The Death Eaters' heads swiveled as one, as expected. She charged at once on her left for the short man standing between her and her destination, one fist going straight and hard to his plexus while her other hand grasp his wand out of his loose fingers. There is no peace without disarmament after all. She snapped the wand in two while continuing her plunge toward possible safety. She lowered herself to take her appointed cudgel from the ground just as a flash of light passed over her head with a whistling sound. As she went down into a tumble, she saw from the corner of her eyes the shadow of a cloak behind her, she reacted instinctively, finishing the tumble by turning on her shoulder, throwing her arm in a large arc with the club at the end. She heard a satisfying "Oomph" as the stick connected and the shock went up her arm, almost making her release her makeshift weapon. 

She came up on all four, trying to get her bearing and an idea of the situation. Just then, Sirius, still in animagus form, attacked from her right side directly at a man coming for her. His powerful jaw took the man's forearm and twisted it so that the wand scattered from the now limp hand. The man screamed and pursued her as she snatched the wand and resumed her running, hoping over obstacles and keeping low.

She was keenly aware of Sirius' presence just behind her, his animal blood fury mixed with the man's hard and cold concentration, was easy to follow. She could almost feel the power of the beast long strides in her legs and the fierce taste of blood on her lips. She knew that his energy was feeding hers through the link just as she knew that he could feel the beating of her heart and taste the sweat running down her face. It is through the link that she felt the Death Eater coming from Sirius' left side to intercept him. In a half second of joined knowledge, they agreed. She had the most chance of taking that one down. Without even faltering in her footstep, she dropped her cudgel, grabbed an old canvas half eaten by mice resting on a rusting charcoal and, suddenly turning around, threw it over the guy while Sirius rushed past her to the niche. As soon as the Death Eater was blinded, she gave him a rapid round of a kick to his middle and two fast-punched to the head. As he bent in pain, she finished him with a side handed cut on the nape of his neck. Swirling around, she stooped to retrieve her weapon, and then sprinted to catch up with Sirius now in human form, wand in hand.

She turned around once more beside her partner, curious to see how many of their enemies were left. She knew Sirius had taken down two of them while she had three. By all counts, there should be only one left standing. Unfortunately, there were two others, running behind the one that was almost on them. She saw the right shoulder of that particular Death Eater twitch in that specific fashion Remus had taught her, a decade ago it seemed, in her cabin. She knew a curse was coming their way and she plunged to avoid being hit. But instead of flinging herself sideways, she went down on the man, catching him in the knees just as he was in the middle of his incantation. He fell on his side, she was on him in the blink of an eye, catching his wrist with her left hand and sending his way a series of blow to the head with her right one. These wizarding guys, they were used to fight with wands, not fist, she knew, so her best defense was to try to get them where she could beat them. Over her head, a dazzling mixture of strange lights and weird words were filling the air, testimony of the fierce battle going on between Sirius and the two remaining Death Eaters.

The man she was fighting finally went limp. Not trusting him, she went to his wand first. Just as she took it firmly in her hand, he suddenly raised his own fist and dealt her a mighty swing on her right ear. It WAS a ploy! Head ringing, she never saw the foot coming for a kick straight in her stomach, sending her in the air, to land, hard, on the side of the stack of crates. 

"_~WAKE UP, SYLVIA! FAST!~_" Sirius was bellowing in her head, trying to get her to move. "_~COME ON! You still have his wand! BREAK IT! NOW!~_" She looked dazedly in her hand. Yep, there was a wand there. What did Sirius said she should do with it? Maybe she could try Abracadabra?!

She looked up as some black shoes came into her field of vision. A black robed man was hovering over her. Oh! Right. That was the bad guy and he wanted his weapon back. 

"Give me that, little girl. You are finished." 

She looked at him, showed him the wand with a smile, "You mean this thing?"

"Yes, you are down and you can't use it. I will give you a fast and painless death. Our quarrel does not concern you." 

Still smiling, she said, "No." Then, she snapped the wand and fast as lightning, raised her foot to his crutch. Doubling over in pain, this time it was he who never saw the blow coming to his head, knocking him down for good.

Getting slowly up, Sylvia searched her head with her hand. It came back all bloodied. No wonder she felt dizzy. She looked at the scene before her, Sirius had visibly gotten rid of one of his opponent, the man was sprawl on the ground a few meters from her, half unmasked, he seemed quite young from the little she could see of his face. His skin had turned a nasty shade of yellow and there was a trickle of bright green fluid running down his face from the corner of his mouth. She then turned her attention to the other dark wizard, still going strong. She could feel Sirius was tiring. He had not been involved in a magical duel in years, while the Death Eater seemed to have acquired a lot of skill in the art. 

Sylvia considered her options, what could she do to help? She looked around frantically, trying to find something useful. Her eyes fell on an old baseball lying in a garbage heap beside a wooden box. With two quick steps she had it in her hand. It had worked in the clearing close to her cabin after all; maybe it could work here too. The Death Eater was entirely focused on Sirius, giving her no heed. She took aim and pitched the ball as fast as she could. Thanks to the link, Sirius, aware of what she had done and what her plan was, hurtle a charm toward the ball as soon as it entered his field of vision, sending the projectile straight to the man's head at a furious speed. The Death Eater fell like a tree in the dirt. 

"_~Run!~_" her friend barked in her head, already changing back to a dog. "_~There is probably more of them coming.~_" 

He didn't have to tell her twice, she shot for the alley opening, hot on Sirius' heels. They did not stop their mad rush until they were safely back in the apartment, panting. 

Sylvia closed the door behind her, and locked it before leaning on it, exhausted and dizzy with the pain lancing from the cut on her head. 

Sirius turned to her, anxious. She looked deep into his eyes and, too tired to speak, opened herself to him once more on the link, wanting him to know that she was all right. His relief flooded her…and just behind it, was another strong emotion.

The next minute they were kissing like crazy, feelings, emotions and need merging as one, moments before their bodies did the same…

___________________

TBC….

__

Sirius Black is dead…Long live Sirius Black!!!


	14. Finding the smoking gun

**DISCLAIMER**: I do not own any characters in this story apart from Sylvia and Timothy. All the rest is the product of the genius imagination of J.K. Rowling.

A/N - I sorry if there is any grammatical mistake from this time on...no more beta reader (snif).

14: Finding the smoking gun

A week later, Sylvia was still reeling from the shock of the sudden evolution in her relationship with Sirius. The fight was but a blur in her memory, unlike the following very hot two hours. She never saw that coming, to say the truth. Oh! She knew he liked her, that much was clear in the emotions and imageries of her she had caught on the link. After all, there is not much one could hide from the other with that mode of communication, nevertheless, she never would have guess the depth of his liking! What a man of extremes he was; he had not left much of his emotions leaked from his iron fist control before, but now…it was like a torrent of deep, tumultuous feelings crashing on her from the link since that first incredible kiss. It still took some getting used to, sometimes she had trouble distinguishing her emotions from Sirius'. To top it all, it appears that the link was no linger cut off when they fell asleep. Last night, she had a very disturbing nightmare about a strange prison with scary ghost like creatures crowding around her. She had wake up screaming and Sirius had to make a distinct effort to break the link. It had taking her hours to find sleep again, not because of the bad dream, but because shutting down the _Arcanus Loqui _made her down right uncomfortable and put a distance between the two of them that she didn't like one bit. She was uneasy to discover how comfortable she was now with Sirius presence inside her and how much dependence has grown out of the regular use of the spell. She had felt lost and incomplete without it, like an important part of her was suddenly missing. When Sirius had finally reestablish it the next morning, she could feel, and see in his face, a relief and an unease that mirrored her own. That worried her a lot. What if one of them died? After all it was a definitive possibility right now. What if one or the other had a change of heart? Could the link become permanent? Could the deprivation of it eventually be unbearable, like drug withdrawal? She knew that her partner shared her concern, but for the moment answers were just not available: Dumbledore was unreachable and Remus seemed out of his depth on this particular problem. She could tell he was worried though, and that did not bode well.

On the other hand, things were going smoothly with their spying. The virtual vase was in place, the camera rolling and the V.C.R. taping it all. They had two television set with video integrated, a DVD writer and a very good software to study the data frame by frame. Keeping watch in front of her screen was tedious but had an unexpected positive effect on her uncontrolled emotions concerning everything linked with her past. Seeing Tim study from a safe distance and in monotonous circumstances has alleviated her fear. Tim himself has come and gone again in another mission or so Sirius told her since it happened on one of his watch, one thing she was very grateful for. She could now face her screen without trembling, or without Sirius assistance. As first, they had taking turns, witch enabled her to keep her emotions under control, then she was able to take longer and longer watch until finally she felt strong enough to take the day shift, leaving Sirius alone with the screen all of last night. That organization did not leave them a lot of time to fool around, but they managed. Good thing to have a laptop that can be move around to the bedroom! Sirius was also much more relaxed and his mischievous side was coming out more and more often. She giggled as she remembered how just yesterday he had gotten her naked in a blink of an eye with a wicked grin and a nonchalant "_Accio clothes_." The clothes had floated away out of her reach, twirling near the ceiling, until she was so lost in their shared pleasure that she had lost track of her wandering clothing. She had also never laugh as hard as when he had greeted Remus with nothing on but his jeans, a Stetson and a cigar, giving a cracking imitation of Clint Eastwood in Unforgiven, which they had seen the night before.

She was still smiling at the memory when a sudden distortion on her screen caught her wandering attention. The distortion cleared and…YES! A little folded white piece of paper and a bag had indeed appeared right in the middle of Tim's desk. She sent a silent call full of jubilation to Sirius, urging him to wake up and come see this. She was already replacing the tape by a new one and rewinding the other one on the second television. There it was.

"Watch this." she said to her lover when he appeared behind her, still groggy from sleep and grumbling that it had better be important. She felt him tense when the screen showed the distortion, then the paper and the bag appear on the desk.

"Can you play that again, more slowly?" he asked very intently, all though of sleep and love wiped out of his mind. That was one of the things she loved in him, he was so focused it was almost scary.

"Sure." She put the tape right back at the start and pushed the frame by frame dial on the remote. He said nothing until he had saw it three time at different speed. Finally, he let out a long sigh.

"I was afraid of this." He said dejectedly.

"What? What is it?" she could feel his weariness.

"This spell," he said with a wave at the screen, "is a variation of the portkey. The object transport itself to a specific place, at a specified time, it does not need to be touched to be activated. It is also pretty much untraceable. We can study that note and bag for years without finding out where it came from or who sent it."

She pondered that for a while. "Does it have a range?"

"No. It can be sent from half way around the globe."

"Hmm. Well, maybe magic can't trace it, but what about ordinary investigation techniques?" At his bland look, she explained patiently, "I mean fingerprints, the kind of paper, of ink, the smell of it…anything that can give us some clue. The money bag could be invaluable by itself. If it is muggle money, it can be trace by the numbers on them."

Sirius grinned at her and gave her an enthusiastic and warm kiss. "I always forget that you're a Muggle and that you have other ways to do things. You're right, of course. I'm a moron. I'll go there as fast as I can to snatch the evidence and have a good sniff at it!"

He was already at the door when she called, "Be careful, will you!"

He answered with a warm mental caress and was out.

She discovered almost immediately that she could feel his progress through the link effortlessly. She even got distorted images flash of the street he was in. Then, without warning, the smell of chocolate ice scream suddenly overwhelmed her.

"_What was that?_" she sent him.

"_What was what?_" he answered shortly.

"_That chocolate ice cream smell of course._"

"_You smelled that! Well, it was a child with a cone that passed me by. He shoved his hand in my face to pet me and it was full of melted chocolate. It was pretty good, but my fur is now all sticky._"

"_Poor little doggy! Who's gonna take a good long bath when he comes home, hmm? It's our good lilt' pooochy…_"

"_Stop it, please! Do you know what I sound like when I start laughing in this form? It's like a hiccup mixed with a hyena, or a asthmatic grandfather affected with a stammer! It's undignified!_"

None of them wanted to underline the fact that the bond between them was growing stronger, there was nothing they could do about it, none of them wanted the connection to end and they needed it to much in their present work. Bantering was a good way to cast away the uncertainty.

She caught a glimpse from Sirius of the back entrance to Tim's building and a few minutes later he appeared on her monitor. He was still in dog form and went straight to the desk. She saw him sniff the note cautiously, without actually touching it.

"_I can smell…humidity…and…Goblins!_" He sent.

"_Goblins! YES, the money! They changed their money into Muggle one in Gringotts! Can the Goblins know from the serial numbers on the bills to whom they changed it for?_"

"_Maybe…but there is also an underground market operated by rebellious Goblins who resent wizard interference in their business. It's more than probable that the Death Eaters works with them._"

"_Oh! Well, it's still worth checking._"

"_I agree_"

Sylvia saw on her screen, Sirius change back into human form, "_What are you doing?._"

"_I want to check these things for charms and I need my wand to do that. I would also be great if I could duplicate the note and examine the bag more closely._"

She looked at him on the screen, waving his wand like an overgrown kid playing wizard, it looked ridiculous to see him in a perfectly ordinary flat doing magic with such a serious face. She almost giggle, but it was stopped short when she suddenly felt all the airs on her arms starting to stand up as a wave of very weird feelings washed trough her whole body.

She instinctively threw herself away from her screen and Sirius, almost ending up on her bottom as she bumped her chair back. The feeling was growing stronger, the hairs on her head started to react too and she hastily closed herself off as much as she could from the link. The situation was too volatile too cut herself off completely, beside, she was not certain she was strong enough to do it. After all it had took Sirius tremendous effort last night and she was far from being has used to it as he was. It worked. She had guessed right, the feeling was coming trough the link and immediately her body calmed itself even though she could still feel a tiny bit of it, but even that stopped when Sirius suddenly aware of the change in the link looked up at her from the monitor and sent her way a huge anxious call that almost toppled her protections.

"_I'm all right_" she sent down to him in a closely guarded and focus band "_I'll explain everything later, just do whatever you have too, I'll try to help as much as I can in the circumstances_"

He nodded once on her screen and went back to work, she immediately felt the strange feeling again and tried as much as she could to screen herself from it.

On the screen the note started to glow.

"_We have something here._" She faintly heard Sirius, but it was clear enough that she understood him correctly. "_ There is a binding in the paper…blood I guess. It'is there to make sure the portkey appears at the right place, there is another trace of the same blood in the wood of the desk so that only the proper person can get the note. Only Timothy can touch it, if anyone else tries, the note would self destruct._"

"_That's clever, but doesn't help us much, if we can't touch or take it we can't study it. And you obviously can stay there indefinitely! Wait, how come I was able to touch and take the other notes then?_"

"_Because Tim had already touched and read them, The Death Eaters had probably surmised he would burn them once read and did not put more arcane protections on them, but Tim kept them…a pretty big mistake. I thought we was more intelligent then that._"

"_It's not that. He just doesn't trust anyone. He probably kept them to make sure he is not double-crossed. He believed his secret drawer a thoroughly safe place. His failing was more to underestimate woman, one in particular…Can the blood be traced to the one who sent it?._"

He took his time with the question, pondering. "_Maybe…there might be a way to discover who the person is but he probably made himself unplottable and unscryable. Maybe Dumbledore can find a way though but I would not count on it_"

"_Well, that's something anyway. What if you duplicate it, would that trigger the self-destruct? Would the Death Eaters be aware that someone is playing with it?_"

She saw him shrug. "_There is only one way to find out, really._"

Before she could stop him , he raised his wand again and she felt the curious feeling seeping through the small space she have left open to communicate with Sirus. He gestures once, briefly and in no time at all another little square of white paper appeared near the first. She saw Sirius stiffen as he prepared himself for what might come, from the apparition of dozens of furious Death Eaters to an explosion. She was almost out of her mind with tension herself, but after a while they both relaxed as nothing was happening.

"_It seems all right._" He sent to her and approached an hesitant hand to take the new folded paper. As soon as his hand touched it, he started to scream and dropped in a heap on the floor. Throwing all caution to the four winds she opened herself to him shouting his name and received the full force of his searing pain. She was halfway to the door when his jumbled reassuring words reached her, "_I'm ok, don't panic, love. I'm in one piece._"

She came back in front of her screen in time to see Sirius getting back to his feet. In spite of the fear that was still coursing trough her, the sweet name still sent a shiver up her spine. God knows she was not used to hear those and they both avoided using them since they have never talked in any way about their feeling to each other. The situation was much to complicated as it was. She could tell he had felt her shiver of pleasure through her now fully opened end when he grinned mischievously.

He continued, "_What's more, I know now who has sent the note._"

"_What! Really? Who is it, then? Do you know where that person is?_"

His grin disappeared, "_No, but I swear I'll find out. Sylvia it's him. It's Wormtail._"

"_Oh!_"

"_Yeah. The blood taint is fainter in the duplicate but there is no disguising it, as soon as I touched it, it showed. His oathbreaking of the _Fidelius_ is in his very blood as is his fear of me. He broke a very old piece of magic and knows I'm looking for him with a vengeance. It's a bond between us. That is what happened to me a minute ago. I hope that with Dumbledore's help we can boost the blood signal from the duplicate. It's not as strong as in the original note but it might be enough to use that bond to find him. A thing like that is older and stronger magic than scrying or plotting._"

Sylvia felt her lover retreat from her on the link, not really cutting her off but more like putting a veil of intimacy beyond which she could not reach him. She knew that his feeling for his former friend were dark and unforgiving. She had felt more than once the darker parts of his soul where his hatred has plowed deep and strong. She knew that he both feared and needed this immense anger that made it possible for him to survive in Azkaban, but that part of him really scared her. She had had enough of one man who's anger almost destroyed her, she did not need another one. Sometimes the resemblance between Tim and Sirius was almost to much to bear, she could only pray that her instincts were good and that Sirius would never, ever let that part of him take control. Not that her instinct has been any good where Tim was concerned, but for the moment she could not see anything else to do but wait and see. She guessed that he knew of her unease and that was the reasons he kept it hidden from her as much as possible, but like many other things, they have never talked about it. She also knew that the only way for him to get the anger out of his system would be by confronting Wormtail. But that might not be enough, sometimes when you have been angry for as long as Sirius has been, it just becomes a part of you you can't do without. Then, when the primary source of your anger is not there anymore you just find another target for it. Sylvia felt that she could very easily become the next best available target if she stays with Sirius. And what if he can trace down Wormtail and trap him? Would he become a real murderer this time?

She shook her head. She knew she was falling in love hard and that everything about it was so complex she could not fathom where it would all lead them.

Sirius cut into her musing by opening up to her again, he visibly was now in control of his inner demons once more.

"_I was just checking the money bag, it is one that is sold in a shop in Diagon Alley: Bag End. We can look it up, maybe they keep some records and can tell us to whom they have sold this one._"

Sylvia was so happy to see him back to himself that she took the hint and continued the conversation as if nothing amiss had happened.

"_Good, so we have a few lines of inquiry. With a little bit of chance to back us, we might be able to put all the pieces together and hit the jackpot._"

"_Huh?_" Sirius perplexity at some Muggle expressions was her favorite form of entertainment these days and this time was just as fun. She laughed at his expression.

"_It means we might get lucky._" she explained.

She saw him pocket the duplicate of the note then disappeared from the monitor screen. She felt him change back into a dog and start running all his senses on alert.

"_Oh! You mean it is like saying "we might snatch the prize from under the mummy's boots"?_"

Still laughing she replied, "_I guess, or saying " we might get the winning number."_"

"_That's even weirder, muggles are crazy. Personally, I prefer "we might witness the bear smile."_"

They went on like that, letting off some steam by bantering and comparing notes on their favorites expressions. With everything happening so fast, they could barely get used to one thing before something else came rocking their world, and with so many unsaid things between them, they both felt like they better catch a time for laughter as it come by, because they might not get so lucky next time.

Sylvia guessed this could be called a war meeting. Dumbledore, Remus, an older woman called McGonnagall, a scowling greasy man named Snape and a weird, but beautiful raven hair women with a white streak in it who was presented to her as Tonks were all crammed into their little apartment to discuss the new developments.

Dumbledore had boosted the blood signal and Sirius had a good idea where the bad guys were holed up, near the Thame it seemed, which accounted for the humidity detected on the note, in a old, deserted warehouse.

"What is wrong about storming the place and taking them all captive?" said a belligerent Tonks

"It would tell them that we have a way to spy on them, that's what wrong with it." snapped a weary MacGonnagall.

The same arguments were used all over again, everyone was tired and nothing new was proposed, only bickering.

Dumbledore who had barely said a word since the arguments had begun, stated calmly in a lull in the squabble, "We have now a tactical advantage, by duplicating the notes without their knowing, we can learn what the Death Eaters are planning, when it comes to Muggles at least. We can warn the right people and prevent some deaths, like we can do this time, thanks to Sirius and Sylvia. Not only that, we can watch the warehouse and know their coming and going. We might even be able to learn where their main hideout is. Then maybe we can make a raid when we are sure the important ones are inside. It would do nothing to capture some petty underlings, and would only warn the big fishes that we are after them."

Sylvia cleared her voice, making half the room start, she had gone unnoticed since the beginning, seen by all as just their host and Sirius love interest. Only Remus and Dumbledore had given any inkling as been interested in what she could add to the discussion.

"Yes, Sylvia? You want to say something?" said the old man with one of his shinning smile.

She took a deep breath, " Well, only that I could help with the spying, the same way we have been spying on Timothy. If someone can go inside the warehouse and find the place where the note is sent, then we can put an invisible virtual camera and tape it all. That's all." She shrugged, it did not feel like much to add, but at least she had reminded them of the possibility.

"All this planning is almost certainly for naught", intervened Snape with a snort. "After all, it could very well be only the place where that Wormtail goes to write to his Muggle friend. It's probably not even a place of meeting for petty underlings." He added, his words dripping sarcasm.

That man was a mystery to her, he seemed so, well, mean, but Dumbledore and even McGonnagall was treating him with respect, visibly disregarding his little piques and barely disguised attack in Sirius direction. On the other hands Sirius, Remus and Tonks were looking his way with various expression of disgust, contempt or in Sirius' case, open dislike. She could tell that they let him be only for Dumbledore' sake and could feel tons of emotional currents that she could not begin to understand going around the room. What was indisputable was the high intelligence of the man and his loyalty to Dumbledore, even though Sirius, maybe blinded by an old hatred could not recognize the later.

"Well, we won't find out by just discussing it. I will go and plant the camera." That was Sirius, of course, tired of talks, he was ready for action.

"Don't be ridiculous, Sirius, they can recognize you now." placated Tonks, "You will come with me to show me the way, I will do the rest. They will not look for a women, after all. And I can be whoever I want." And to Sylvia utter amazement, she slowly changed completely until she looked like a nondescript old woman. Only her clothes stayed the same. "Besides, I'm kind of curious to see what a, a…what did you called it? A camera, is and can do." The old woman smiled at Sylvia in an easy way that was so friendly that Sylvia felt herself tentatively reacting to it.

"All right, that's what we'll do, for now. Sylvia, Sirius, Tonks, be careful and keep us posted. In the meantime, I will put someone to continue monitoring Tim's apartment to duplicate and steal the notes when they arrive. That part of the mission is finished for you two." He nodded to Sylvia and Sirius, before getting to his feet to address the whole group, "Thank you all for your input." With those simple word, he looked at every one of them individually before disappearing with a small "plot", quickly followed by the others, leaving only Remus and Tonks behind.

Sylvia had a little surprise up her sleeve for Sirius though, before he went straight to the docks to get himself killed. It was time to test the shield and the illusions Remus and her have worked on so hard. While on duty looking at the monitor these last days, she had used the time to create the 3d form of a beautiful Dalmatian dog a little bigger than Skif. She wanted to know if they could use it to hide Skif in it. As long as he kept himself behaving without abrupt movements she thought he should be able to stay well within the illusion. The shield spell of Remus would give him a good idea of the space available to him since he would not see the texture from the inside of the virtual dog.

He was not keen on using it and she had to make doggy eyes at him and a little bit of pouting too before he agreed, rolling his eyes to the ceiling to underscore his reluctance. Silvia could see Remus and Tonks trying to suppress their smiles at seeing the big dangerous Sirius Black subdued by a little Muggle woman.

She attached the invisible virtual camera to the head of the fake Dalmatian. They made extensive and thorough testing and corrections to make sure it worked, well into the night, wanting to be ready for their foray in the afternoon.

Finally, the next morning they felt ready and Tonks and Sirius went out in the docks direction.

Remus stayed with her anxiously looking over her shoulder at the screen showing the images from the camera. For the time being, all was going well. Tonks and Sirius were on the Tube, sitting.

"_Sylvia, we're about to need to go out, the next stop is ours…as soon as you see Tonks standing up, start counting so I can get up too. _"

"Right , got you." she said aloud so Remus could know what was going on.

She saw Tonks on the screen preparing to get her old form up and started; "In five, four, three, two, one, NOW!" And she hit the series of keys on her keyboard bringing the Dalmatian up on its virtual four paws, knowing Sirius inside the image would replicate the movement as closely as possible. Tonks was keeping a close eye on it and would smile or frown depending on the success and smoothness of the moves. They didn't had too much time to practice and there was bound to have some glitch going on, but so long no one as started screaming or goggling at the strange dog. After all, people usually don't look twice at dogs and don't look for strangeness in one. People see what they expect to see and usually shrug off anything else as dust in the eye or a bad reflection in the window. In this particular moment, that short view of things was saving them.

On the monitor, the train stopped and the old woman that was Tonks stepped in front of the doors, a leash to her dog in her hands. The door started to open.

"Prepare yourself, walking phase in five, four, three two, one, NOW" Sylvia hit the button and Skif started to walk, making Tonks hurriedly follow him.

They were almost there, the docks were two streets down to the right. Dumbledore had told them, the blood signature came from an abandoned warehouse in the oldest portion of the docks. Not a place for an old woman, or so visibly Tonks thought, because she used the darkness under a bridge to change herself into a punk teen drugged to the teeth searching for a place to bunk for the night.

"_Can you make me go faster?_" She could feel Sirius getting frustrated. "_This is not normal dog behaviour. I should be looking everywhere, trying to run, not keeping to this stupid walk without moving anything else_"

"_Sorry, one speed fits all. Didn't had time enough for more. It works anyway and at least no Death Eather is going to jump you. In this case slower may well be faster._" _And safer_, she added for herself.

"_I know, I know, it just not my nature to hide from a good fight._" She could hear the long suffering sigh in his mental voice and had to smile.

"What's going on?" asked Remus

She raised her brow at him her eyes never leaving the screen. "Why are you asking?"

"I can tell when you are talking to Sirius now, there is a look in your eyes when you do, like your seeing something that no one else can. So what is he saying?"

She grinned at him. "He is having problem with the speed of things. He can't wait for some action. You know how he gets under pressure…" She shook her head ruefully.

"Ah, yes, I know." He waited a little bit hesitantly, before continuing, "How are things going between you two? Does Dumbledore have an idea about, you know, the possible problem with the _Arcanus Loqui_?"

"If he have, he did not tell me. Does it worry you so much Remus?"

"There something not right going on, Sylvia. I don't like it, and I can tell Sirius is worried too. He told me you had a nightmare about Azkaban, HIS nightmare. That never happened when we were using the spell at Hogwarts and we used it pretty often and for long periods. I just hoped Dumbledore would have a solution, but with everything going on…" He let his voice trail into silence before continuing.

"I asked him, you know. He just looked at me and smile his enigmatic smile and said he was looking into it. He didn't seemed too worried to say the truth. Even though you can never be sure with Dumbledore. I wish he would said something more helpful though." Remus gnawed at lower lip before going on.

"Sirius also told me something happened to you while he was at Tim's the other day, he said he felt your fear but that you dismissed it afterward as nothing. If you want to talk about it…"

She did wanted to talk about it, just didn't want to disturb Sirius with yet another thing to worry about. She made up her mind. "Remus…While Sirius was doing magic in there…I felt something. I think that I can feel the magic working through the link…I don't know what it means. If I shield myself, it gets weaker so it have to be something coming through the link. Looking back, I think I have felt it before but never that strong. "

Remus looked at her a stunned expression on his face. " Merlin! I don't know what to tell you…I have never heard of anything like this before. I will talk to Dumbledore again as soon as I can and I will do anything to have an answer out of him this time." He looked so determined that Sylvia felt her mouth twitch in a short living smile.

" Well, there's nothing we can do about it, right now. We need the link too much." She felt like a drug addict trying to convince herself that she had everything under control while knowing deep down that she was lying to herself. The news that Dumbledore was taking it lightly was both irritating and reassuring. Maybe there was nothing wrong about it, but then maybe Dumbledore was just too involves with a hundred other things to really worry about it. There was nothing else to do but wait and see. That seemed to her the same as with all her problems these days.

She got back to reality when she saw on her screen, Tonks and Sirius approaching a street corner.

_"Sylvia, we need to turn right here, are you ready?_" On the screen, she could see the corner coming closer.

"We'll try it while your walking, there doesn't seem to be anyone nearby. Don't change your speed and when I tell you, turn your nose a little bit to the right, and them let the rest of your body follow. Okay, three, two, one, NOW." Remus came closer, looking hard at the screen as if his will only could make all the difference.

She made the move as smoothly as she could on the computer and could see Tonks smile as she looked behind her and saw Skif following without problem. Sylvia let her breath escape and smiled too. They were getting better at this.

Their destination now in plain view, Sylvia felt Sirius impatience grow and her heart speed along with his. Their entered the building without hiding, counting on their disguise to protect them. Once inside, Sylvia discarded the virtual dog, but kept the camera rolling.

"_Thanks, I was just going to suggest you do just that._" She could feel his relief in his mental voice.

Now was time for more discretion and Sirius turned back into a man, before disappearing under the invisibility cloak that Dumbledore has provided Tonks with.

Making the invisible camera follow Tonks was easy and she could give most of her attention to their surrounding and to Sirius thoughts. He was both scared and excited too be so close to his old enemy, Sylvia knew she would have to be careful with him, in his present state he could do something stupid and dangerous. They were here to plant another camera, not to jump Death Eaters. She hoped she would be able, with Tonks help, to restrain him. She hoped no one was going to be there…

TBC…


	15. Lost and found

**DISCLAIMER**: I do not own any characters in this story apart from Sylvia and Timothy. All the rest is the product of the genius imagination of J.K. Rowling.

Chapter 15 - **Lost and Found**

Sylvia saw on her screen Sirius head looking around the corner, carefully, his back to the wall, while the rest of him stayed covered under the invisibility cloak.

"_Nothing._" He sent her. "_It's huge though, much bigger than it should be. There is nowhere else I could see around here that might be their secret hideout. No trace of magic or of anyone, they might have a secret keeper like we do. _" he got his head back to the wall with the rest of him and quickly put the concealing cloak over it before going on.

"_This has to be it, we looked every where else and this is the only logical place in all the warehouse._"

His frustration was growing rapidly to border on the unmanageable. Tonks and him have been wandering around for hours without any luck and tempers under a lot of stress were starting to snap.

"_ Do you think this would be a good place to plant the camera, then?_" She said calmly, trying to send him a bit of cold rationality to calm him down at least a little.

It seem to work as he took at perfunctory few seconds of contemplation before answering, but she swear she could feel him cursing." _I'm not sure it is the perfect place, and I really hate that, but yea, this is as good a place as any._"

"_All right then. We can put one here on a wide angle, as wide as I can manage anyway, to get the most coverage, and then we can surround the place with some more camera, just to be sure. After all, with virtual camera money is not a problem, I can get as many as I need!_"

She felt more than heard the grunt he gave in lieu of an answer and had to smile at his bear like behaviour, witch of course alerted Remus sprawl on the sofa that something was afoot.

"What is it?" he asked eagerly, "Have they found the place?"

She explained while starting to take the camera higher. She soon discovered that this was a great idea but that it was going to be much more complicated than she had originally thought. She had to look constantly from the grey virtual environment of her computer, where there was no wall and no corner, to the view of the camera itself., but since she wanted to attached the _back_ of the camera near the ceiling on the corner, she was not seeing what she was doing. Finally, after what seemed like an endless number of attempt and failures, she made the camera at least partially visible so that Sirius could give her some direction. Sirius, who had some time to calm down and even sniggered at some of her choice curses as she tried and tried without success, helped as much as he could by sending verbal directions as precise and clear as possible. They were both soon sweating with the concentration needed for the task. After a few attempt, she soon discover that it was getting easier and that she could actually see glimpse of things through his eyes and as he was sending her a pretty complicated string of direction, she suddenly received in full force the unmistakable stench of humidity, grease and fish that permeated the warehouse. In shock, she lost her grip on the mouse, and the camera sank through Sirius' head, making him jump and swear furiously under his breath.

"_Watch what your doing!_" he growled at her.

Annoyed with herself, she answered sharply, "_ Don't be ridiculous, it's immaterial, it can't hurt you._"

She tried again, trying to see everything at once and follow the directions sent by Sirius. She grimaced when the odour came back, but this time she was ready for it and accepted it as part of the experience. As she did so, she started to see clearer images from Sirius side and that more than anything else made the difference in putting the camera where it belonged, right on the corner, up close the ceiling. She made the small adjustments needed to get the greatest and largest angle possible and relaxed in her chair with a weary sigh.

"There. That should do it." She finally said aloud with some satisfaction while rendering the camera invisible again. "_What now? Do you go around on the other side where we could put another one?_"

"_I guest that shaking things up a little bit to see what could come out of it is out of the question?_" He almost whined in a whisper to both Tonks and her. As she saw Tonks on the screen giving him a hard look, he made a great show of reluctance and continued speaking barely aloud for Tonks sake, "_We might as well put your stuff up then Sylvia_"….Then just for her inner ear, "_I hope you're in good shape for this is taking more energy than I though it would._"

"_If you can keep up, so can I_" She answered mischievously, thinking to herself that exhaustion could be just the right thing to keep him from doing something stupid.

It eventually became easier each time they put another camera up. So far they had three functioning and were currently installing the fourth around the big room. Not a sound of movement was heard during the last few hours of their work. They were all tired to the bone at that point and their only though was for food and bed as soon as possible. Remus was peacefully reading on the sofa, having quite clearly stated that he was not going anywhere until the mission was finished.

Sylvia was concentrating hard on the last camera, trying to put it underneath a lonely lamp swinging from the ceiling in the middle of a corridor leading to the big room, when a flicker of movement on her screen caught her eye. She glanced rapidly and gasped, losing all control over her mouse and her emotions.

"Oh my God!" Then, she regained enough control to make some sense to Sirius who, feeling her outburst, was desperately trying to know what was going on. Remus was already at her side, trying to understand as well.

" _Sirius! There's a man moving in the direction of the second camera we installed. I swear he seemed to have come out of thin air! I can't see his face but he is wearing a black cloak so I doubt he's a Muggle. Wait!... Shit! The camera is acting strange, there's some sort of interference. I can't see anything half the time._"

She could sense Sirius moving as soon as she started sending and could also feel his adrenaline kick and the suddenly focused and calculated intelligence coming out on the link. This was the kind of situation he was the best at. All fatigue was forgotten and nothing existed but the present situation.

"_There is too much magic in the air around the camera in order for it to function normally. Don't lose him Sylvia.._"

"_Yea. And you stay underneath that invisibility cloak, you hear me._" She studied the camera view intently, trying to see something through the distortion.

"_He seems to be continuing along the same course. He looks kind of small from here. He should pass underneath the camera in the next few minutes at the rates he's going._" She sent to Sirius.

"_I'm almost there, I'll meet the Death Eater head on in the corridor. Tonks is just behind me, disguised as a street urchin. We will try and stun the guy before he can raise his friends._" She could feel her lover was eager for action and that worried her.

"_All right, but please, please be careful, ok?_"

"_ Hummm_" was all the answer she got from him, along with a flash of annoyance. She could tell he didn't like to be cuddled. It was not that she didn't trust him, it was that she knew how careless he could be when he felt reckless. She felt he wasn't taking this seriously enough. She backed down from trying to reason with him and tried to hide her anxiety from him.

The interference on her screen grew worse as the Death Eater approached the camera...and then suddenly all her camera windows went dead altogether at the same time. She felt Sirius' shock through the link and his scream. "_Wormtail, you little bastard..._" And an awful lot of pent up dark emotions rolling from Sirius' end almost toppling her with intensity. Then, a shout "_NO! I won't be..._" then nothing, only a huge void where Sirius used to be. She got to her feet with a wordless cry of horror and searched frantically to hear something, anything coming from him. The emptiness was unbearable and the feeling of loss so acute she could feel nothing else, she was drowning in it.

"SIRIUS!" She screamed over and over incapable of understanding or believing he was not there anymore to answer her. The shock was just too big, the abruptness of the severing of the link too painful, like an elastic that suddenly breaks and recoil, hitting you with dreadful force.

Actually, it was a slap in the face that brought her back to herself. Remus was standing in front of her, white as a sheet, shouting at her to answer him. She blinked and looked at him with some surprise. Only then did she remembered where she was and the circumstances of the situation.

"What happened?" said Remus, his voice shaking with fear.

She raised a hand to swipe at her tear streaked face, regarding her hand with detached curiosity. She had not been aware that she was crying. Part of her mind was still desperately trying to find something that was not there anymore.

"I...I don't know. Sirius recognised Wormtail and then, nothing." Was all that her croaked voice could utter. She cleared it and went on. "I can't feel him Remus. He is not there anymore!" She could hear her voice going higher in a wail full of hysterics.

Remus grabbed her and shook her a little bit. "Don't fall to pieces yet, Sylvia. He had his cloak. He could be just stunned. No need to think the worst."

She looked at him with big eyes. Sirius might still be alive. Abruptly, she disengaged herself from him, grabbed her purse and almost flew to the door, running with all her might. Sirius might still be alive and she needed to help him. That was all she could think of. She did not heard Remus calling her nor did she heard him cursing violently behind her. If she had, she would have been shock at the choice curses her gentle friend could spit out when the situation warranted it.

It's only once in the cab that the small part of her that was still thinking rationally observed that she was in Muggle London without a disguise, only streets away from Tim's flat. But the thought was dismissed pretty fast, crushed beneath the overwhelming fear and tension filling her. She knew she was not acting coherently, she knew that she should wait for Dumbledore and a team of Aurors, she even knew that she could make thing worst by running blindly in the middle of things, but she also knew that she was going to go crazy, completely lose it if she didn't do something. Sirius was her lover, her anchor to sanity, her protection from the panic attack and even possibly her only chance at happiness. She could just not stand by while others make calm, sensible plans to save him. She would fret herself to death. Screw calm and logic, she didn't care if this was going to get her killed, she absolutely needed to see him, to touch him, to understand what happened. The part of her that was sane could see that her reaction was too extreme to be just the fear of Sirius' death, it was the loss of the link that was the worst of it. She had grown dependant of it, and could no longer function without it, she could not face the horror of going through life without it.

The cab stopped in front of the warehouse as the sun was going down. She got out and paid the driver, looking around. She immediately spotted a gang of young punks loitering nearby. Remembering Tonks disguise it gave her the start of an idea. It was sketchy at best and pretty dangerous for both herself and the kids, but it was better than nothing. She hesitated at the idea of bringing innocent into this but a cursory pocking at the huge emptiness in what she have come to think as "Sirius' place" inside her, made up her mind. She resolutely walked toward the group eyeing her with suspicion. She was aware of quite a number of blade being drawn up and then hidden behind backs but she didn't relent and kept going.

"Hey kids!" she called "I need your help." They let her come closer, still unsure but visibly curious as to what she meant.

"Listen," she told them, talking fast, "I found by accident a huge cache of really good stuff hidden nearby. The Death Eaters are a rival gang who has been stolen from us for some time. We think it is high time for some payback. The problem is I'm all alone and there is a lot of good things in there. Enough stuff that I would be willing to share in exchange for some help in removing it before the owners came back. You can have a go at whatever catch your fancy in there and also..."

A young gangly man with bloodshot eyes shook his head and cut through her hasty explanation. "Listen sister, we don't want to be involve in no gang war. We could never hold up our end of things against a real organisation. So screw you and get going."

She smiled a tight smile and showed him the few high bank notes she fished from her purse. Dumbledore had given them some emergency money that could make salivate with envy anyone in that section of town. "Well, it's okay kid. This is for listening to me without cutting me to pieces first. Here take it. Of course you could have much more by coming with me, but that's up to you I guess." She pressed the money into his hand and made as to turn around.

"Wait!" She looked back at him. The bloke was incredulously goggling at the money in his hand. He gulped and looked at her with greed awash in his eyes. "Exactly how much money are we talking about here?" his eyes grew small and calculating "Maybe we could help ourselves without any risk at all."

She sniggered at his naivete with all the consummate skill of an actor while her mind was running in circle saying over and over "_oh please help me, I have to find Sirius, please Sirius don't be dead, ..please..._"

"Oh really! I'm not stupid enough to show you that much money and have more on me. My boss will triple that amount as soon as we have the loot. Beside, I could probably take all of you without much problem." She made a show of some impatience. "So are you in or out? I don't have all day you know." She could see uncertainty fighting with greed in the young leader's eyes. Finally, as expected, greed won out and he nodded.

"All right lady, we are all yours. Tell us what to do."

Her heart both squeezed shut at the thought of what she was going to get them through and flew with relief at the though of having a shot at her hasty plan.

She turned toward the warehouse offering them her back with a little shudder of apprehension and with a nonchalant flip of her hand ordered them, "Follow me then."

She heard them sluggishly walk behind her and nervously went in the direction she had seen Tonks and Sirius take on her screen hours before.

She lead them inside and recognised the layout immediately. She had seen Sirius wander the place in all direction after all and knew where to go. She took the right corridor and followed it until the bend before the long straight line that lead to the big room and the second camera. Excitement and fear tumbled inside her as she continued her little mantra of prayer to all the gods listening out there. She still could not feel anything coming from Sirius and her anxiety was growing every minute she spent without the usual, soothing contact.

She gestured the group to stop and be quiet and peaked a look around the corner. There was nothing. No sign of either Tonks or Sirius or even of any Death Eater. It was uncanny. No trace of fighting, not even a scorch mark on a wall, nothing at all as if nothing had ever happened, as if she had dreamt the hole thing, as if Sirius has never existed at all. Trying to put together some sort of strategy, she cast away, her eyes roaming her surrounding, looking for a clue, anything that could help her find an idea. To her amazement, she caught the sight of something familiar just a few step away from the corner, hidden in darkness. She came closer and fell on her knees as she recognised Sirius's wand. Her eyes filled with tears and a sob near her lips, she grabbed it tightly, a proof of Sirius's presence here, of his existence. Still on her knees she frantically and blindly searched every crook and corner around the place where she had found the wand, maybe he was still stun, hidden underneath his cloak... but after several minutes, she had to come to the heartbreaking conclusion that Sirius was not there. She gripped the wand firmly, trying to get some comfort from having found it and went back to the gang, it's member muttering among themselves and eyeing her curiously.

She took a deep breath. "Okay, this is what we are going to do. There is a huge room ahead of us in that direction, I want you to grab your weapons and put it in front of you like this," she explained, showing them the way she hold Sirius' wand. "You will run in screaming at the top of your lungs anything that you can think of, actually the less understandable what you say, the better. Do you understand?"

"Not really." Their leader answered.

"Just do as I said."

The young men shrugged. "Whatever, as long as you pay us..."

She nodded and took a long breath. "Alright, let's go." And she leaped into the corridor, Sirius's wand wavering in front of her, shouting gibberish as loud as she could.

It was pandemonium. As soon as they entered the room, screaming, the Death Eater let the illusion vanished, thinking themselves under attack. She could see rooms and offices and Death Eaters everywhere. She started kicking at wands and dodging curses. Her young group seem to have taking the bad guys by surprise, as most Death Eaters were unmasked. Suddenly she heard a number of POPS! In a dazed, she saw Remus and Dumbeldore and several others she did not know appear out of nowhere, their wands out , blasting the Death Eaters one by one. Still running, she jumped behind a desk to evade the curse the screaming Death Eater on her right was shouting. She looked about, searching where Sirius could be, when through the scrambling mass of fighting bodies, she spotted a dark hooded man running toward her. She put a leg out to make the running Death Eater stumble, and as soon as he was on the floor, she took a paperweight on the desk, and rapped his head sharply with it. "_Here, take that you ugly freak!_" That made her feel a little bit better, but the feverish feeling in her mind was urging her on. She was not here to deck Death Eaters, as fulfilling as it may be. Some far away part of her was wondering how she could still be in one piece with so many wizard intent on hexing her around, but most of her was interested only on staying alive long enough to find Sirius. Her mind was still desperately trying to feel him while her eyes roamed the place. She spotted a door leading out of the main room and she jumped out her hideout, running for it her head low, curses and hexes flying everywhere over her head. She ran first to a column behind witch she discovered a young Death Eater trembling, she surprised him and punched him before he knew what was happening, she then run to a corner just in time as a big red light missed her only by a few inches, and then finally, she made sure the way was clear then leaped and slid on the floor feet first to get to the door, opening it by the simple mean of slamming into it with enough force to make it close behind her.

She got to her feet and searched around, desperate to find Sirius, but only saw a long hall and doors leading everywhere. Despair almost stopped her then. "_How can I find him? This bloody place is ten time bigger then it should be!_"she winned. In her mind, the craving for the link she had grown accustomed to would not , could not let her stop. She jumped in and out of rooms, kicking doors open, yelling Sirius' name until her throat was so raw she could barely hear herself. Once in a while a Death Eater would get in her way and she would push through without finesse, kicking, jumping and rolling pass them, just wanting to be on her way to find her lover. She almost got lost in a maze of rooms full of strange apparatus but finally got to a place that had the look and feel prison cells have all around the world. She had no ideas how long she had been looking or even what had happens to those others that had come with her, there was no place in her for questions or any other feelings that her lost. She screamed with frustration when a locked grill impeached her going. She took the bars in her hand and shook with all her strength, cursing them at the top of her lungs. A hand on her shoulder made her whirl around, ready to gouge her attacker eyes out. She recognised with a grunt of surprise the young gang leader she had convinced, oh, a lifetime away it seems, to help her, and did a double take as his features started to melt away, revealing Tonks underneath it. Now that part of her that was still thinking, albeit very faintly, understood how she was able to come this far without getting hurt.

Tonks put her out of the way and sent a charm on the offending grate which obediently opened. Sylvia pushed pass Tonks at a dead run, searching everywhere. She had to wait for the young witch anyway as a number of doors in a long corridor were locked, and try as she might, she could not kick them open. She growled at her to hurry up and watch as each door was magically unlocked in turn. She visited every one of the chamber, not finding anyone and her fear mount to an unbearable level. Finally, they reached the last door. Tonks opened it with a charm and opened it before Sylvia could make a move and the two woman found what they were looking for, the sagging form of Sirius, hanging from manacles attached to the wall in a medieval fashion. Sylvia started crying as soon as she saw him, badly hurt but alive. Although she could still not feel him, she could see his chest moving and that more than anything else put her mind at ease at least a little. In about half a minute Tonks had him down on the floor and took out of her muggle jacket an old small teddy bear in a kerchief. She put it down on the floor and took Sirius' hand. She looked up at Sylvia with a commanding force.

"This is a portkey. It will bring us to safety. At the count of three, touch it with a fingertip. Do you hear me?" At Sylvia's nod she started counting. "One, two, three!" Sylvia touched the teddy and felt the usual uncomfortable wrenching in her stomach.

She came to in a white bed in what was unmistakably a hospital ward of some kind. Her first though was to search for Sirius presence inside her and not finding it. She shot out of bed, looking around frantically. She remembered finding him with Tonks, was it all a dream? Then she spotted his unmoving form in a bed not far from hers and relief flooding her, went at his side, grabbing his warm hand. He was alive, he was really alive and here where she could touch and see him, where she could make sure he was all right. She stayed there, with his hand in hers, crying softly, just basking in the knowledge that he was here, barely aware of what was going on around her.

"Sylvia?" a tentative hand on her arm woke her from a light doze. She opened her eyes to see Remus standing there with a warm cup of tea, smiling at her gently. He presented her the tea. "I thought you could use a cup. What about it?" She smiled her gratitude and took his offering, while he bewitch a chair to float to him. They sip for a moment in quiet comradeship, before Remus broke the spell.

"How are you feeling Sylvia?"

She made a face. "Like after a pretty violent panic attack. But not the worst for wear. What is Sirius condition exactly? What have they done to him?"

He shrugged, "They didn't have time to do much. Our guess is that he was still out from the stunners he received when you got to him. They roughed him up a little bit, but nothing too serious. Mme Pomfrey gave him something to sleep it off." He hesitated a little than asked her. "Sylvia, what do you remember exactly. I mean, after you lost contact with Sirius."

She looked blankly at him then started to blush. "Uh, I remember going to the warehouse and a fight, but it's kind of fuzzy. I guess I was kind of ...I don't know... kind of out of myself with worry or something." She shrugged half apologetically.

"Actually, Sylvia, the word you're looking for is berserk."

"What?" She exclaimed half laughing at the exaggeration.

"I'm not joking, Sylvia. You badly hurt four Death Eaters, kicked open doors that men two times your size could not, and ran so fast Tonks had problem following you, and Merlin knows she can run. From what she told us, you were barely able to understand things she said to you. When you arrived here you would not let anyone take Sirius from you, we had to stun you carefully in order to get to him. What happened to you?"

She was aghast at his description of her and turned even redder with embarrassment. "I'm ... I'm not sure." Then she looked at Remus face and lost all pretence. "Oh my God, Remus, it was because of the Arcanus Locqui. Losing Sirius presence inside was more that I could take, especially since it came so abruptly, it was like being suddenly amputated. " She stopped, looking at Sirius sleeping form, trying to get her mind into some sort of order, trying to explain how she felt and not wanting to see the worry in Remus eyes. When her courage came back to her, she started again, looking unseeingly at a point over Sirius' bed. "I...I think I'm ...falling in love really hard with him, but I don't know how much of it is because of the link and how much is real. The thing is, it feels both wonderful and easy but also terrifying and intoxicating. I'm not sure I could learn to live without either Sirius or the link now. It's all mixed up together. The worst thing is that I know that one day I will have to. One day this mission, this weird wizard stuff will stop and I will be either dead, or I will be alive but without Sirius by my side, and God help me but I would rather be dead. The mission is important of course, but sometimes I feel like I don't understand half of it, half the time. Sometimes it feel more like an excuse to stay in contact, to use the spell. I don't know how Sirius feels about it, we never talked of it, but I believe he is less dependant of it than I am." She finally had to look at her friend face, startled to see him smile and tears in his eyes. She gave him a crooked smile, "So, it makes you smile that I'm so screwed up?"

"No," he answered slowly, "It makes me smile that someone at last had the good sense to feel love for him. He have been so alone, he really needs you Sylvia, and he his one lucky guy to have found you." Remus suddenly stood, gave her hand a squeeze and was gone.

She took a sip of her lukewarm tea, her eyes fix on the door where Remus has disappeared, thinking about all he had told her, hoping against hope that he was right. When she lowered her gaze at her lover's bed with a sight, it was only to encounter his wide open eyes, intently studying her. She choked on her tea, sputtering.

He gingerly sat up in the bed, while she tried to regain some composure. When she could talk she shyly asked. "What did you hear?"

He grinned "Pretty much everything, from the time you started talking. Actually, it' your voice that woke me up."

"Oh, right, sorry." She licked her lips nervously. "I'm sure you're hungry, I'll get you a soup or something." She started to get up hurriedly when he grabbed her hand.

He looked at her with mischief in his eyes, and something else too, something that made her breath caught in her throat and her heart beat faster. A vulnerability and a wonder she had never seen there before. He squeezed her hand gently, "I'm falling for you too Sylvia. As hard as you do and... and I'm just as scared. We are in this together." He smiled at her with so much tenderness that her heart skipped a beat, "Thank you so much for coming to my rescue. I don't care if the Arcanus Locqui makes you a little bit crazy, since I'm pretty crazy myself, it makes us even... just don't worry about it, if it means we'll have to be together for the rest of our lives, I'm more than grateful for it's effect on you, and if not, then I'll make sure to always find a reason that will make you stay by my side," he brought her closer slowly until she was sitting on the bed and her lips were inches from his own, "forever if needs be." And he kissed her, slowly, deliberately as if sealing a promise.

TBC


End file.
